


Awakening

by Mistery Man (Mre97)



Series: Synthesis [1]
Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Angst and Feels, Cloning Blues, Gen, Homeworld Gems - Freeform, Homeworld is Horrible, Major Character Undeath, Resurrection, The Major Character Death is Rose Dying in canon
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-09-20
Updated: 2020-07-03
Packaged: 2020-10-24 14:10:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Major Character Death
Chapters: 43
Words: 134,479
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20707325
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mre97/pseuds/Mistery%20Man
Summary: One day, thousands of years after the end of the rebellion against homeworld, Rose Quartz gave up her gem to bring her child, a human-gem hybrid, into the world, dying in the process of bringing life to the boy who would go on to bring an end to homeworlds tyranny.But against all odds, even after she was supposed to have died, she woke up. On a station far from Earth, next to a strange machine, she realized her old identity as Pink Diamond had finally caught up to her, and all her mistakes came with it.





	1. Chapter 1

Rose Quartz knew her life was going to end soon, and she was at peace with that. Lying on the beach staring at the sunset, she rubbed her pregnant stomach and reflected on her life. Her birth as Pink Diamond, the realization that everything the other diamonds had told her was wrong, her decision to fake being a common Quartz soldier and fake the death of her diamond persona in an effort to reinvent herself and change for the better, and most of all her many, many failures trying to make that happen. Shaking her head, she turned her thoughts to the future, to her unborn child who would be able to move beyond her failures and live a happier life than she ever could, surrounded by the people she loved.

_ I only wish I could be there to see it. _ She thought _ What will they be like? The first human-gem hybrid, combining my abilities with organic life’s ability to change and adapt. _

Her thoughts were interrupted by light footsteps as Pearl came to sit down beside her. Turning to face her, Rose saw that Pearl was a mess, tears dripping down her eyes. She had been taking the whole situation horribly, but she was strong. Stronger than Rose in many ways, more capable of moving beyond what she had been made to do and becoming a better gem at least. Pearl said nothing as they sat, watching the sunset. They had done this many times before, but something inside her was telling Rose this would be the last time. Rose wrapped her arm around Pearl, and the two lay there for several minutes before the sound of voices came from up the beach.

As Rose turned to look, she knew her feeling had been correct. Greg and Amethyst were walking over from town, with Garnet a distance ahead of them. Garnet got to them first, looking down at Rose and Pearl holding each other on the sand.

“I saw you would give birth tonight” Garnet confirmed Roses suspicion. “I believed it would be best if we were all present.”

Garnet was always dependable like that, using her future sight to the advantage of herself and the rest of the Crystal Gems. It was why Rose had no doubt she would take over the role of leader when she was gone “Thank you” Rose said softly as Pearly let out a sob and buried her face in Roses chest.

When Greg arrived a moment later, Rose invited him to sit on the other side from her, and after a moment of hesitation he did.

“So, is this really it? The big day?” He asked “Because I knew it would be soon but I was hoping we could have a bit more time before…” He trailed off, not wanting to finish the sentence, as if not saying it out loud would make it less real.

Rose leaned down to kiss his forehead. “I’m sorry, but this is it. I can feel it coming.” She confirmed sadly before pulling him into a hug. She felt him and Pearl tense when they got near each other, and she let out a sad sigh.

Behind her, Rose heard Amethyst give out a grunt of frustration, and Garnet whispering to her. A bittersweet smile crossed her lips, and the three of them sat there for a while more as thoughts warred in Roses mind. Secrets that should be revealed _ no, it’s to late to explain them all, and Pearl knows all of them, she will tell them what they need to know _ and her desire for her two lovers to end their little feud over her _ They promised it wouldn’t interfere with raising my child, and bringing it up now will ruin this peaceful sunset. _

As the sun started to slip beneath the waves, Rose felt something inside her, her gem shifting as the child inside her moved. As her body began to glow, and her family started calling her name, the last thing she felt was the touch of the people she loved the most. _ Not the worst way for my life to end. _She thought as she drifted into nothingness.

**********************************************************

Light-years away, a machine on an abandoned space station came out of standby mode. This machine had been built at the request of the diamond authority, so that if one of their number died they could continue to serve the empire. In her last moment before death, hidden nodes inside a Diamonds gem would copy and broadcast all the information on her gem onto this machine, like copying a file from a computer. The machine would then in theory put the information on a blank copy of the Diamonds gem, allowing her to return to work, however given the resource requirements of making even a blank diamond, only a copy of Pink Diamonds gem had been included.

When the machine had failed to work when Pink Diamond was apparently shattered thousands of years before, a few attempts had been made using hourglasses to pull her consciousness in from the past, but they had failed and the machine had been left in standby. Now, thousands of years after it had been made, the machine roared to life. In less than a second from receiving the signal that a diamond was dying, it activated programs that had never been used outside of testing, and when many of the systems did not respond it adapted, overcoming the issues in an instant. As it received the data dump from Pink Diamonds gem, it started to shift all the information into the blank gem in its holding chamber, but the vast majority of its systems were offline. Holding the data in storage, the transfer went much slower than expected, and the minutes the process had been designed for stretched into days, which became months as the machine struggled and systems that had never been designed to operate for that long failed. The process stretched on and on for years, until finally it achieved its objective despite the widespread failure across its subsystems, a testament to the sophistication and skill of its builders. As three gems and a human raised a young boy together on a planet far away, a perfect copy of Pink Diamond as she was in her final moments was born, with all the memories and experiences of the original. When its task was complete, a simple message was sent to White Diamond, ruler of homeworld. _ Pink Diamond successfully retrieved, zero data loss detected. _With that it shunted the gem inside it into a waiting chamber made specifically for her and went back into standby, barely functional and now without even a gem inside to work with if another data dump was received.

*************************************************************

Inside her gem, Pink Diamond wondered why she could still think, why she was still aware. _ Did it work? Will I be inside my child, conscious without being able to hear or see anything for the rest of their life? Why am I still here? _ She wondered, and she was determined to see it through. Over the next several hours, the urge to take her form grew from a minor feeling to a near inescapable push, and despite all her efforts she felt her consciousness begin to leave her gem. _ Nora, Steven, whichever you were I’m so sorry. _She thought as she took form.

Opening her eyes, she expected to see the Crystal Gems and Greg looking at her as she took her form, murdering her newborn child. What she saw instead was far worse. She was in a room made by homeworld gems, the architecture was unmistakable. Worse, the room was pink, and on a plaque near the bed where she had woken up, she saw a simple message written in the gem language.

_Pink, _

_ I’m sure you have many questions, they will be answered in due time. The machine that you just came out of was built after that rebellion began on your colony, and all you need to know is that it saved you from death. White should have been alerted when the machine activated, she will send someone via warp network to escort you back to homeworld shortly _

_ Blue Diamond _

As her eyes ran over the words again and again, her mind screaming as it tried to understand what had happened, the gem that had been born as Pink Diamond, died as Rose Quartz, and then been reborn as Pink Diamond had only one coherent thought in her mind.

_ The humans were right, there is a hell. _


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Pink gets serious and tries to deal with going back to her old life, but meeting with White proves a lot more stressful than she thought.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't know if the cloning blues plot is going to be everyone's cup of tea, but it was actually my major inspiration for writing this story. It's not going to be the entire plot though, a lot of it will be Pink adjusting to being a Diamond again, but it's going to be something she has to come to terms with.

Rose’s mind was a panicked mess as she tried to understand what had happened to her. Slowly, as the initial wave of emotions died down, realization hit her. The message had said White Diamond would send someone to retrieve her soon, and if they found her as Rose Quartz, she would be punished. Fear raced through her body as images of a dark tower flashed in her mind. _ And that was just when I made a scene, if they found out I faked my own shattering… _she couldn’t let them find out, they would keep her watched all the time even if they let her out of that cell, and then she would never be able to go home. With determination filling her, Rose got up and began to prepare to return to the life she had wanted to never go back to.

Hours later, it was done. Rose had poofed herself and reformed as Pink Diamond to avoid any slip ups while holding a strange form for so long, changing the form to remove the more childish aspects. Her new outfit was sleeker, based on the mural from her moon base with less of the fluff of her previous outfit. Sitting near the warp pad, she lost herself in thought.

_ The Diamonds know I’m back, but the machine had hourglasses on it, if they were as linked in as they looked I can pretend to have come from the moment I was "shattered". Earth will be fine without me, we made sure of that before I left. Also, it's not like I can go back anytime soon, going back as Pink Diamond would get me attacked and I don't know if they'll give me enough freedom to be Rose Quartz again. I’ll go back if I can, but right now… right now I can’t think about Earth, I need to think about the future. Once I get back to Homeworld, I need to do something other than be an entertainer, no more balls and playing around. I know I have powers that help organic life, so I’ll do is focus on figuring out how to create gems without leaving a world unusable for organics… _

Pink was so lost in her thoughts that the warp pad activating shocked her. As the beam of light from the warp pad dissipated, Pink saw a squad of white Quartz soldiers step off the platform. Watching them, Pink felt a sense of unease inside her. White Court gems were always more formal and strict, but watching these gems spread out from the warp pad with swift, efficient movements, it was hard to believe they were related to the Amethysts from her own court, or even the more stricter soldiers of the other diamonds. When they caught sight of her, there was none of the excited shouting she associated with Quartz soldiers, and as they formed up in front of her with only a few short orders the sense of unease grew.

“Pink Diamond” the leader said, kneeling while her arms formed a perfect salute “Our Diamond received the transmission from this station and dispatched us to investigate. We arrived as soon as we could, please forgive the delay.”

“It’s alright” Pink said with a light smile “I did not expect an immediate response. I assume you will take me to White Diamond now?”

“Of course” The gem in front of her responded. Wordlessly, the squad formed up around her, escorting her as she walked towards the warp pad. With a flash, they were away, and Pink Diamond found herself in a small room made of white stone. Following the Quartz soldier, they walked down a hallway. After a few minutes, the hallway opened into a wide open chamber, and Pink stopped short. Memories of the previous times she had been invited into White Diamonds chambers running through her head. Before she could recover from the shock, a voice out of her darkest nightmares echoed through the room.

“Hello Starlight, you certainly gave everyone a scare.” White Diamond, leader of the gem empire, stood on a pedestal, unmoving and emotionless despite the softness in her voice. Before Pink could react, she continued. “Thank the stars that machine finally worked, now everything is back how it should be. Welcome home Pink.”

“About that, what exactly did that machine do?” Pink replied, trying to hide her feelings behind her curiosity.

“Oh, it used some nodes put into your gem to download a copy of you off your gem right before you died, then it put that copy on a backup gem we had ready for you.” White said casually, as if she had just been talking about her day and not telling Pink that she was a copy living in a fake gem. “Even when we first put on the hourglasses it didn’t work properly, but after thousands of years I suppose something must have happened to it.”

The revelation that she wasn’t the real Pink Diamond, that she was just some memories put on a blank gem and told to play the part hammered into Pink _ can I even call myself that? _Sliding to the ground, she felt herself shaking with emotion.

“Well Pink, I know this might be a bit much for you, but you should look on the bright side, if the machine hadn’t worked you would have been dead, and isn’t this much better?”

The gem that had thought she was Pink Diamond stared up into the bright lights, barely able to make out Whites face through her tears. “But Pink Diamond is dead. She died there on that planet. That machine didn’t save her, it made a copy that looks like her and has all her memories but SHE’S GONE!” She shouted the last line, tears running over her face as she pulled her knees in towards her chin.

White stared at her, unblinking for a moment before responding. “You are Pink Diamond” She said.

“She’s gone…” the figure on the ground whispered.

“And you are here.” White replied, annoyance cutting through her voice. “You have her memories, a perfect copy of her gem, and her role in this empire. A day ago you might have been an inert gem sitting in a machine, but you are now Pink Diamond, and you will act like it.”

Pink stared at her, wanting to argue but terrified to make a sound, memories of being locked in a room flooding back as her mind was wracked by warring thoughts and emotions.

“You are obviously in no shape to perform your tasks.” White sighed. “Go to your room, when you are ready to fulfill your purpose simply send me a message.”

Pink found herself surrounded by a white bubble, and with a jolt she left the room. Her mind was racing as she tried to comprehend what had happened, and she almost didn’t notice when the bubble popped, depositing her in her old room. Looking around, she felt memories rushing back, memories that belonged to a gem who had given up her form on a planet far away. Pushing that thought from her mind, she paced around the room and tried to think, to control the feelings running through her mind.

_ The original Pink Diamond is dead. Does that even matter though? I don’t feel any different than she did… _ Sighing, she looked out the window as the rising sun illuminated the planet outside _ . For now, as far as everyone else cares, I am Pink Diamond, and unless I’m somehow not a perfect copy, I guess I am. Being a copy is upsetting, but less upsetting than being back here on Homeworld. _

She resumed pacing._ White expects me to jump into my old role, go back to before I was given Earth, but even when I didn’t know I was a copy I didn’t want to do that. If I say that though, will the others even let me do anything else, or will they just lock me in the tower again? _

As she paced across the room, small figures peeked out of holes in the walls. Lost in thought, she didn’t notice them until one spoke up in a tiny voice.

“Pink? Are you really back?”

She froze, turning towards the voice. Standing in a little hole that had opened out of the wall was one of the pebbles that kept the room running. Kneeling down, she looked the little creature in the eye.

_ The pebbles. Oh I missed you little guys. I can't believe you waited for me to come back, I thought you would have moved on to something else by now. _She thought, fond memories of their time together coming back.

“Hello little ones, I’m sorry I’ve been gone for a while, but I got… distracted on Earth”

The pebble looked at her gem “What do you mean? We heard you were shattered!” she said. 

Below her, another pebble popped out of the wall “We were really sad, we missed you a lot!”

Pink hung her head _ I can’t tell them the truth about being Rose, and they don’t deserve to hear me cry about how I’m a copy. _Lifting her head up and looking the first pebble in the eyes, she responded

“That’s... a long story, I was shattered, but the other diamonds built a machine to grab my mind out of my gem before I died and put it in an inert one. So anyways the machine took a bit longer than expected but I’m back now!”

Behind the wall, she could hear whispers from others listening in. “Are you feeling OK Pink?” Came from one of them.

_ No, I want to go to Earth, I want to not be a copy, and I want to be away from the other diamonds. _Pink thought, but instead she smiled at them “Not really, but I don’t really want to talk about it right now.” She said, reaching out and giving the pebble a gentle hug. “Let’s just, play some games, like we used to before I left.”

The pebbles were a bit cautious, and at first only a few came out, but as the games went on more and more came to join the fun. Laughing and playing, their joy swept over her, and even though the pain was still there, and her emotions weren’t the most stable, she found herself chuckling and playing along. As the minutes turned into hours, for the first time since waking up on that station, Pink Diamond felt like maybe things didn’t have to be always horrible.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter fought me, but I think it came out OK in the end. 
> 
> Like last time, let me know if you have any suggestions on phrasing or grammar, or even just some thoughts on the chapter. So far it's been easy to respond to every comment I get on this, so unless I get a massive wave of comments I'll respond to anything you post within a day.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Pink finally confronts Blue and Yellow, and after a long conversation decides to visit her garden to relax

After a day of playing with the pebbles in her room, Pink reclined on a seat facing the window and reflected on her situation. 

_ I don’t want to be a Diamond again. And I don’t want to constantly ask myself if “again” is right when “I” have technically never been a Diamond. _ Sighing, she shook her head and blinked away a few stray tears. 

_ If the worst thing that was happening was just being a copy, I think I could work it out. It would be weird, on Earth being with the Crystal Gems after they watched me… the original me die, but we could work through it. But I’m not on Earth, and I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to go back there again. And now I have to face Yellow and Blue. And the way they acted the last time we talked… _

She shuddered at the memory. Blue lambasting her for daring to even suggest giving up, before switching into that voice she used when she pretended to care about how Pink felt to tell her that all she had to do was be visible and let her loyal soldiers handle everything. Yellow standing in the background, not even looking her in the eye or saying anything to her, reminding Pink of just how little she was worth to her.

_ And as far as they know, right after that I went and let a rebel get close enough to me that I, she, was shattered. They’ll never let me off this planet again! White won’t overrule them, I’m amazed she even answered my question when I asked her what had happened! I can’t spend the rest of my life here, not with how they’re going to treat me after I “failed” on Earth so horribly. _

She took a deep breath, using relaxation techniques she had learned from a human priestess a couple thousand years after the end of the war. Looking out, she saw both Yellow and Blues personal ships, parked on their pads, and a sense of determination ran through her at the sight of the symbols of their power. 

_ I won’t let them treat me like that. I don’t care if I have to fight them, at least if I make them poof me and lock me up that way I won’t have just rolled over and let it happen. If their ships are here, they’re either in the throne room or close enough to come running if they get a call from me saying to get over there, so I’m going to head to the throne room, sit in my throne, and let them know that I’m back and I won’t be pushed around again! _

Marching out of her room, she followed a path that had been burned into her mind over millennia of practice. The gems she passed on the way moved aside, blinking in amazement at her and whispering to each other when they thought she couldn’t hear.

“Is that…”

“She can’t be back, you can’t reassemble a shattered gem!”

“I like her new form.”

“I heard the diamonds were trying but that was hundreds of years ago!”

“Is that why Blue and Yellow have sealed themselves in the throne room?”

Pink kept moving, focused on her objective. As she approached the throne room, she felt dread start to seep into her mind. _ Am I really ready to face them? Can I actually do this? _ She asked herself, standing in front of the main doors. Turning to the side, she caught the eye of the guard. _ If I don’t go in, they’ll hear about it through the palace staff. If I didn’t want to face them, I should have stayed in my room. Too late to turn back now. _

With that thought, she told the guard to open the door. The guard rushed to obey, happy that she was no longer being glared at by a diamond who had somehow recovered from being shattered shattered. As the doors opened, Pink Diamond braced herself for the meeting she had been dreading since the moment she had reformed in the chamber.

_ This is it, time to face the music. _She thought as she stepped through the door frame. As she walked in, Blue and Yellow Diamond turned to face her in their thrones in the back of the room. When she saw their faces, her determination turned to confusion.

Blue Diamond, the gem who had locked Pink in a tower and forced her to cry for days on end with her powers, was crying. Yellow wasn’t much better, she had a serious look on her face but after a moment of inspection, it became clear that she was barely holding it together. Pinks angry rant died on her lips.

“Pink” Yellow said “White told us that the backup machine had worked, but it’s good to see you myself.” As she talked, she kneeled down, bringing her head down to Pinks level and looking her in the eyes. “Welcome home.” She said, with a warmth in her voice that sounded utterly foreign coming from her.

Pink blinked in shock. Before she could respond Blue joined Yellow and reached out, pulling her into a massive hug.

“We missed you so much Pink!” She exclaimed through tears. “After you were shattered it felt like my own gem had been cracked. We spent so many resources on that machine and they were all worth it to have you back!”

Pink shook her head, trying to get over the shock. Pushing against Blues hug, she tried to understand why the diamonds were acting like this. After all the time they spent acting like she was just an annoyance, now they acted like they cared? After she forced her way free from Blues grip, an uncomfortable silence filled the air, as the other two stared down at her, waiting for her to say something, anything.

“Pink, are you alright?” Blue asked.

Pink stopped and stared at her, the question bringing her up short. “No. No I’m not alright.” 

Blue and Yellow flinched as if she had hit them, but she didn’t care, she wasn’t going to just sit around and pretend everything was fine the way they always wanted her to.

“I died, Blue. I felt my life end, and then I woke up in a strange room next to a machine I’d never seen before, and based on what White told me I’m just a copy of Pink Diamond, not the actual thing. If that happened to you, would you be fine!?” She shouted, her pain leaking into her voice as her eyes watered.

Blue reeled back, holding her hand against her mouth as she stared down at Pink.

“Ahem” Yellow cleared her throat and Pink turned to face her. “Pink, you aren’t just a copy, not to us. You are Pink Diamond, and we are glad you’re back.”

Pink glared at her. “And that’s supposed to make me feel better? Even if I forget the copy issue, which believe me, I’m not going to, I’m back on Homeworld after I spent, I mean the original Pink Diamond spent, centuries asking for a colony of my own. All of that effort means nothing because now I’m going to be stuck here, organizing balls and watching over the shoulders of the Real Diamonds doing Real Diamond things.” _ And now I have to pretend to go along with this sick system where impure gems like Amethyst and Garnet are destroyed or I’ll just be punished for “making a scene” and I hate it. _

“Pink, you can’t expect us to just let you go back out there, you were shattered!”

“That won’t happen again” Pink said, her voice low, almost a growl. “I’ll make sure of that”

“Pink” Yellow cut in “I understand how you feel. You want to retaliate, to crush the gems who defied you, and show them that they should never have interfered with the plans of a Diamond. But we’ve already purged all gems from the Earth for what happened to you.”

_ They think they killed every gem on Earth? _ Pink blinked, thrown off guard by the response. _ Is Yellow… being nice about this? Blue crying and acting like she missed me was weird enough but now Yellow is being nice to me? _

“What happened to you two?” She asked.

The two of them looked at each other “What do you mean Pink?” Blue asked gently

“I mean why are you acting like you are happy to see me? The last time I saw you you were telling me you were sick of my excuses, and Yellow wouldn’t even look me in the eyes, and now here you are pretending that you actually missed me? That you care about me?”

“Of course we care about you Pink” Blue said, eyes wide. “I never meant to make you think I didn’t”

_ Is she seriously trying to pretend that she cared about me all those years she ignored me? After everything she did, treating me like I was… Like I was a child. _The comparison struck her. Even after thousands of years around humans she hadn’t made the connection until just that minute.

Her voice cold with anger, she looked up at Blue and asked “Even when you locked me in a tower and used your powers to make me cry? Are you going to tell me you just did that because you cared about me?” In her rage, she failed to notice that she was conflating the original Pink Diamond and herself.

Blue stared at her, mouth open for several moments before Pink turned around and stormed out of the room. Blue’s cries for her to come back fell on deaf ears as she shoved the door open, wandering out into the halls.

She wandered the palace for a while, not wanting to return to her rooms but knowing that if she went back to the throne room it would mean giving Blue what she wanted. After a while, she heard footsteps following her. Turning around, she saw Yellow behind her, an upset look on her face.

“Pink” she said “We have important matters to discuss. My extraction chamber is soundproof, we can have this discussion there.” Her voice controlled, only the barest hint of emotion slipping through.

Pink nodded, not trusting herself to speak. _ Don’t make a scene in public, they always are harsher when you mess up in public. _

The two of them made their way into Yellows extraction chamber, and once Yellow told her Pearl to inform the technicians that Pink Diamond was in with her the door closed behind them. An uncomfortable silence stretched for a few moments before Yellow put her head in her hands and sighed.

“Pink, I understand being… frustrated, with Blue. Since you’ve been gone dealing with her has been a struggle, and she’s spent the last few thousand years refusing to perform her duties. But you can’t just storm out on her like that. We are the leaders of the empire, and we must be able to talk to each other about important matters without emotional outbursts.”

“Then treat me like it” Pink said flatly “If it’s so important that we be ‘able to talk to each other about important matters’ then stop throwing me in a tower when I do something you dislike.”

Yellow blinked and opened her mouth to respond, but Pink cut her off and continued

“When I asked for my own colony Yellow, I wanted to show you that I was just as much of a diamond as you were, that I could handle the responsibilities, that you should treat me like an equal instead of like an annoyance.And even then, you two came to my planet to tell me how to run things. You shut down my objections to wiping out organic life on Earth, and Blue made me beg on my knees and in return she ‘graciously’ built a zoo for a few samples of one species.” Pink stated, her voice low and controlled as she focused on memories thousands of years old for what to say.

"White would never approve of your ideas" Yellow tried to say

"Then let me talk to her about them! Let me make my case and argue with her directly instead of just shutting me down because you think I'm too stupid to come up with good ideas!" Pink shouted at her

_ I just wanted to let gems and humans live in peace on it, but that’s not something you’ll give me even with how nice you’re acting now. _She thought bitterly.

Yellow looked at her with an expression that was far too soft to be on the face of the immortal leader of Homeworlds armies.

“I’m sorry, Pink” she said, her voice low and soft.

Pink was stunned. She had expected a fight, for Yellow to defend herself, for anything but this.

“Of course you would want to get away after how Blue… how we treated you. We gave you the Earth, and we should have trusted you to handle the colonization process yourself instead of acting like it was one of our colonies.”

Pink couldn’t believe her ears. After all she had done, Yellow was sitting here, apologizing to her? _ Does she really mean it? _

“Thank you, Yellow” she said “that means a lot for me to hear.” _I never thought I would hear anything like it_

The two settled down in comfortable silence, Yellow obviously relieved that the emotional portion of the day was complete, while Pink tried to process what had just happened. After a while though, Pink gathered her thoughts and decided to ask a question that had been bothering her since the throne room.

“Yellow, about the Earth… What exactly did you do after I was gone?” _ I know what I saw, but she might have done something else that we didn’t see. _

“We attempted a counter-attack, but too many of our soldiers turned traitor in the aftermath of your shattering. We were worried that the treachery would spread, so we ordered an evacuation, and together the three of us unleashed an attack from orbit that wiped the rebels from existence. We spent a few centuries after that snuffing out some small bands of traitors that made it off world in the confusion, but after that, the ‘Crystal Gems’ were completely wiped out.” Yellow stated, her face softening and becoming calmer as the discussion moved from emotions to military matters.

Pink meanwhile was reeling. _ Some of them made it off-world? I never gave them an order to join the evacuation, did they disobey my orders? Or, were they even part of the Crystal Gems in the first place? _Her face darkened at the thought, and her voice was low and angry when she turned to Yellow.

“And what happened to Earth after that?” She asked.

“It was abandoned at first as a memorial to you from Blue, and then when I determined that the weapons we unleashed to finally destroy the rebellion made re-establishing the colony to much effort I decided to let it be.” 

_ What? Does she think the corruption attack made the Earth uninhabitable for gems? That’s the best news I’ve heard in days! _Pink thought to herself.

A thoughtful look crossed Yellows face “Although, now that you’re back, the resource shortage should come to an end. If we put in the effort, we could restart the Earth colony…”

Pink blinked, genuine surprise coming through. “Resource shortages?”

“Yes” Yellow answered “Without all four of us to provide our essence to the formula to create new gems, all new gems take a much larger amount to produce, and drain a much larger part of their kindergarten, while coming out at a lower quality than Era-1 gems.”

“Era-1?” Pink asked. _ I knew a diamond dying would affect the empire but I didn’t think it would be that bad. _

“The era before you were shattered. Now that you’re back, we are entering Era-3, and that’s good news for everyone. Now with you back, colonization of a new world will provide a horde of new gems instead of the current trickle, dramatically increasing the efficiency of the empire and allowing for us to devote more resources to expansion instead of simply maintaining what was built in Era-1.” Yellow told her, a gleam in her eyes. Then the light went out of them. “Of course, Blue will insist on a ball to celebrate your return with all our courts in attendance. Will you be able to keep from causing a scene if you sit next to her?”

“...Yes, I Believe I will. But first, what happened to my court after I was… you know...” Pink interjected

“They were distributed between our courts according to needs, with a few deployed at the zoo station to keep watch over it.” Yellow answered, cutting off the awkward pauses as Pink tried to dance around what had happened.

_ Oh, the zoo. _ Pink shuddered at the thought of the station Blue had oh so graciously given to her in response to her desire to preserve some human life. _ Well, it’s not Homeworld. _

“Well, in that case I will be calling back the members of my court that were sent to yours, and since I don’t have a colony I’ll use the zoo station for my court.” Pink answered.

“I know you don’t want to be around Blue, Pink, but a lot changed during Era-2 that you need to be informed of, and we do need to make an official announcement of your return. I promise I’ll work with Blue to get your court back and running, but for now, can you just stay here on Homeworld?” Yellow asked. 

“... Fine, but in exchange, when I get my colony, I’m using it for experiments. I’m not going to try to make it the traditional way like I did with Earth.” Pink answered. 

“If you can convince White, then you can run all the experiments you’d like.” Yellow answered. “I’ll help you get a meeting with her if it’s that important to you. Once we’ve re-assembled your court, you could return to Earth and use them to remove The Cluster from the planet.”

Pink froze. _ If I go back to Earth, I have to keep the Crystal Gems from being shattered, and I have to face them again. I can’t do that, but I can’t let her or Blue take it either. _She thought, with the reference to ‘The Cluster’ flying over her head as she focused on 

“I don’t really know Yellow. Earth was my colony, and it would be right to reclaim it, but I just don’t know if I want to go back there. Maybe once I’ve had some time to think about it.” She said, hoping that would be enough.

Yellow shrugged. “Very well. Honestly after what we did to that planet I feel like restarting the colony would be more trouble than it’s worth, but I had to ask.”

_ I have no idea why she thinks that attack left the Earth uninhabitable for gems but I’m not going to complain. _Pink thought

The rest of their session was relatively tame, mostly idle chit-chat here and there. Yellow seemed to understand that Pink didn’t really want to play games like they had in the past, and Pink was content to sit and think about the future.

As they walked out, Yellow turned to her and said: “I will send out the orders to gather former members of the Pink Court together for you to re-introduce yourself to before the announcement, but it will take a while for them to get here.”

“That’s fine” Pink answered, “I’m going to my garden to relax for a bit, today has been a bit of a rough day.”

Yellow nodded “I’ll contact you when your court is ready.”

Walking through the hallways, Pink reflected on how the day had gone. _ There was good and bad. The other Diamonds didn’t really take the issue of me being a clone seriously, and Blue is as bad as ever even if she does act sad that I was gone, but at least Yellow seems to be willing to treat me like an equal. Right now, I just need to go somewhere away from this palace, without all the prying eyes and judgement, somewhere I can relax and forget about my problems. _

Stepping onto the warp pad, she wondered how well it had held up over the millennia, and in a flash of light she arrived. Looking around, she saw the whole place had fallen into ruins. The lights had burnt out, many plants were dead and the rest were wild, growing everywhere. In the darkness, she saw something on the path. 

_ Did a tree take root in the middle of the path? How odd. _She thought as she walked towards it. As she got closer, she saw it was very much not a tree, and her good mood vanished.

“Spinel” she said, her voice close to cracking. “Are… are you still playing that game I told you about last time?” _ Please no, this has to be a prank. Maybe those roots growing over her legs are fake maybe maybe… _

“I never stopped Pink.” The words cut her like a knife. “Did I do good? Did I win the game?” Spinel asked, her voice low and tired.

Something broke inside Pink as she heard those words. Laying her hand on Spinels shoulder, she fought back tears to answer.

“You won Spinel, you won”

Spinel looked at her, and with a soft voice said “You forgot about our game, didn’t you?”

Pink kneeled down, her tears coming forward like a flood. “I’m sorry, I’m so, so sorry Spinel.” She choked out.

Spinel backed away from her, one step, two steps, and before Pink could say anything else she turned and ran away.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter fought me. It came out about as long as the last two combined, and it still feels "off" in some places.
> 
> If you notice any issues, let me know in the comments along with any other feedback you might have.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Pink and Spinel have a nice civil discussion in the garden...

Pink Diamond hadn’t planned to confront one of her worst mistakes when she visited her garden. In fact, when she had come here, she hadn’t even known about this mistake. She’d just wanted to relax after a long stressful day and work out how she was going to deal with Blue when she went back to Homeworld. But now she was running through her garden, the endless sky stretching out above her she.

“Spinel!” She cried out, desperately searching for the gem that had once been her friend. “Where are you?!”

“Go away!” Came a response from her left. Running around a pillar, she was caught completely off guard when a pink fist stretched out and smacked her in the face.

Rolling on the ground, Pink saw Spinel standing over her. Their relative heights meant that when Pink pulled herself up into a sitting position they were basically looking each other in the eye.

“Why did you do it?” She asked, her voice hoarse “Why did you just… leave me? After everything I did for you, all the games we played together and you just told me to stand still in your garden for thousands of years?”

“I… I didn’t think you would just stand there…” 

“Of course I just stood there! Everything I did, my whole existence was about making you happy and you told me it would be fun!” Spinel screamed back “I did everything I could to make you happy and you just left me here for thousands of years!”

Pink felt like she was drowning in guilt. Everything that Spinel was saying was true, and she couldn’t think of anything to say to make it better.

“Well? Say something!” “Spinel said, frustration in her voice.

Pink took in a deep breath and braced herself. “I’m sorry” She whispered. “I spent so long just playing games and entertaining the other Diamonds that when I finally got them to take me seriously and give me a colony, I just wanted to move on from that life and focus on the future, and I didn’t really stop to think about what that meant, I just did what I wanted and I didn’t think about how much it would hurt you, and that was wrong.” She finished her rambling, looking directly into Spinels eyes, blinking through tears. “I’m sorry.”

Spinel looked shocked at her words, but after a moment to recover her shock turned to rage. “Sorry? You’re sorry!?” She shouted. “I was so happy for you when you got your colony! I thought we would be working together on it, but apparently you couldn’t handle having me around, and you didn’t even have the courage to just come out and say it, and I suffered because of it.”

“You didn’t have to stand there...”

“YES I DID!” Spinel screamed back at her. “You are my Diamond! Do you have any idea what their Diamond means to a gem? I was made to obey you, to make you happy! I was yours, and I loved you, and when you told me to play a game **I played that game.**” Her face had turned to grief as tears poured freely. “I guess a Diamond wouldn’t know what it’s like, to desperately want someone to be happy, to feel like you’ve failed if you ever see a frown on their face.”

“I didn’t… I didn’t know that’s what I meant to you. I knew that a Diamonds order was important, but I guess I didn’t understand exactly what it meant...” Pink tried to wrap her head around what Spinel had just said before a horrible thought came to her.

_ I was made to obey you. _ As those words repeated in her head, an image came to her. Pearl, with a pink flower in her hair holding Rose Quartz’s sword. “ _ For my last order to you as a Diamond, please, let's never speak of this again. No one can know.” _

Her words ran through her head as she rocked backwards. _ Pearl was also made to obey my orders. She’ll still be under that command. _She was snapped out of her thoughts by a savage laugh coming from Spinel.

“After all this time, I was so **worried** that you left me here because there was something wrong with me, and now you come back here and tell me that it was it actually was all **your** fault.” She said, staring off into the distance. “All this time, just because **you** ‘didn’t understand’ what making you, my Diamond, happy meant to me. Because **you** didn’t want to play games anymore. Because **you **were an idiot who didn’t think anything through!” She laughed a fake laugh, a laugh full of pain and grief, as she said her piece. 

With a glint in her eye, she turned to Pink and declared “Well, I’m going to make sure your little ‘whoops I didn’t think about that’ act can’t hurt anyone else!”

With a thrust, she jabbed a fist in Pinks face, blocked only at the last moment by Pinks shield. Spinel reeled back from the impact, but before Pink could do anything to calm her down, she attacked again. 

Spinel’s movements were fast and fluid, and Pink was forced onto the defensive. Spinel just kept attacking, not giving Pink the few seconds she needed to recover from the surprise and get her footing. Pushing outward, Pink shoved Spinel back whenever she tried to close the distance, but she was unable to effectively counter, leaving her stuck playing defense.

“You think you can just come back here and apologize! You think all the pain you did can just go away by saying ‘I’m sorry’!? Well think again, I’m going to shatter you for what you did!” Spinel shouted.

Using old instincts from the war, Pink jumped forward, shoving Spinel back with her shield. Spinel scrambled to block a follow up attack. But none ever came. Pink stood over her, tears running down her face, and whispered: “I know it’s not enough, but it’s all I can give you.”

There was silence in the garden as Spinel waited for Pink to strike, but when she just kept standing there, anger filled Spinels face. “Well, if you can’t give me what I want, I’ll have to take it!”

Grabbing a shard of a nearby pillar, she thrust it at Pinks gem. As her hand crossed the distance between them, their eyes met, and at the last moment Spinel pulled her attack upwards. The shard passed through Pinks form, poofing her, but her gem was unharmed. Laughter filled the ruined garden as Spinel crumpled, curling up in front of Pink to cry.

For several minutes, the sound of her tears was the only thing that could be heard in the garden. However, soon enough Pink Diamonds gem lifted off the ground, her form spilling out.

As she opened her eyes, the first thing she saw was Spinel crying on the ground in front of her, and the first thing she heard was her tired voice.

“I don’t want to hate you Pink.” She said through tears. “I want to be your friend, that’s all I ever wanted. But you left me, and it hurts to even think about you now, and no matter how much I want to like you everything inside me wants to hate you and it feels horrible.” 

Pink kneeled down beside her and put her hand on her shoulder, not saying anything. They sat there in silence as Spinel cried out her pain, her anger, and her sorrow. After a long time spent sitting like that, Spinel spoke up.

“I guess you’ll be having me harvested now, huh?” She said with a dark chuckle. “At least then I won’t know how little I mean to you.”

“Spinel, I’m not going to have you harvested, or shattered.” Pink said, the very idea upsetting her.

“Why not? I attacked my Diamond, that’s basically the worst crime on homeworld!” Spinel exclaimed, pulling into herself

At those words, Pink got an idea “Spinel, I won’t tell anyone about this, ok? It’ll be our secret, and to make sure I keep it a secret, I’ll tell you one of my secrets.”

Spinel looked at her, confusion on her face. “What sort of secret?”

“The sort of secret that would get the other diamonds to lock me up and never let me go if they heard about it. The secret of what I’ve really been doing for the last 6000 years.” _ The sort of secret that hurts to hold onto alone. _

Spinel blinked in confusion, before understanding dawned. “Pink, what did you do?”

“Spinel, if I tell you, and you tell anyone else...”

“I won’t tell anyone, but I need to know the truth. What were you doing while I was stuck here? What secret is so important that you forgot to come back to the garden for 6000 years?”

Pink sighed and began her story. “It all started when the Prime Kindergarten on Earth finished incubating the first batch of Amethysts…”

And they sat there, two old friends sharing a secret. The pain Spinel felt didn’t go away, but as Pinks story went on it started to evaporate.

There were some funny parts...

“And then I told Blue Diamond to leave the Earth and never come back.”

“Seriously? And she didn’t recognize you at all?”

“I’ll show you the form I took, it’ll make more sense then”

Some somber parts...

“So what exactly does a corrupted gem look like?”

“Like a twisted version of who they used to be. They can’t remember anything, and the pain they feel drives them to attack anyone who gets near them.”

“And every other gem on Earth was like that?”

“Except for me, Pearl, Amethyst, and Garnet, yes.”

And in the end, the story came to an issue Pink had been trying not to think about...

“And after I closed my eyes, I woke up in a chamber on an old station. White sent a squad to bring me to her throne room after an automatic system told her I was there, and then she told me that I was a copy of the original Pink, who was dead.”

“Whaaaaaaaaaat????” Spinel gasped, her playful attitude starting to come back even with how serious this situation was.

“The other Diamonds rigged up a system to copy Pink Diamonds memories onto a blank Pink Diamond gem, and when I gave up my gem on Earth it kicked in and grabbed me. I read the report from the technician White sent, and it’s a miracle the thing stayed together long enough to, well ‘make’ me. It still took several years to get all my memories transferred, but in the end it worked out.”

“Whooooo.” Spinel leaned back at that, staring into the sky above. “That’s really messed up.”

“You’re telling me.”

“So, what are you going to do about it?”

Pink thought for a moment. “I don’t know, I got Yellow to back me up on getting a colony and using it to research how my powers work with organic life, but beyond that I don’t really have a long-term plan. I’d like to go back to Earth, but I’m scared of bringing the rest of Homeworld down on their heads. They don’t deserve that, they deserve to be free.”

She turned to face Spinel “What do you want to do?”

“Are you just asking so you don’t have to think about the copy thing?” Pink blushed, but before she could answer, Spinel kept going. “You probably are, but that’s fine, we could both use a break from thinking about the past right now.”

“Spinel…”

“No Pink, I’m done talking about it for now. I’ll keep your secret, and I’ll stay in your court because none of the other Diamonds would treat me any better than you did, but right now I don’t want to talk about what happened. There’s nothing else we can say to each other about this.”

“Fine. Do you want to come back to Homeworld with me?”

“Of course I do.” Spinel said, her voice soft. “Can we go now?”

“I wasn’t planning on leaving just yet.” Pink answered “Yellow said she’d call me when there was work for me to do, so I wanted to spend some more time here.”

Spinel went silent, her body slumping. “Spinel? What’s wrong?”

“... I want to leave now.” Spinel answered, the words slipping out. She froze, almost like she was afraid that Pink would leave her again for disobeying her.

“Well, then we’ll leave.” Pink said, standing up.

“Wait, really?”

“Yes Spinel, if you want to go somewhere, I won’t stop you.” Spinel looked at her with a skeptical expression. Pink sighed “Look, if you want to go somewhere that I don’t want you to go, I’ll try to argue with you, but I won’t order you to stay or physically force you to stay.”

Spinel smiled, standing up and taking Pinks hand. “I can live with that.” She said, and the two went to the warp pad together. Pink knew they would probably never be as casual around each other as they had been before, but for right now, they had talked out the worst of their issues and neither of them wanted to look back on their trauma, so they walked hand in hand to the warp pad, back to Homeworld and her responsibilities.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And in this update, it's time for Pinks mistakes to start crashing down on Pink 2.0.
> 
> Also, I feel like I should ask, what you all think my characterization of Spinel? She's honestly the character I'm least certain about so far in this fic, and I'm worried something might be off about how I wrote her.


	5. Gathering the Court Part 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Pink finally begins to gather all the gems who were cast adrift by her "shattering"
> 
> Introducing my first OC's! It was either use OC's or rush back to Earth, and I didn't want to rush back to Earth, so this is what I did.

Pink Diamond was lounging in her rooms, reading some reports from Yellow Diamond about how the Empire had changed since her “shattering”, and at the sound of laughter she looked over at where Spinel was playing with the pebbles in the corner. Ever since they had come back from the garden, Spinel had been burning off thousands of years of nervous energy, and even if she hadn’t been in the mood to play with Pink, the pebbles were always in the mood to play some games.

It had been nearly two weeks since they’d come back, and those weeks had been both boring and stressful at the same time. Boring, because until Blue and Yellow handed over the former members of her court there really wasn’t much for her to do, and stressful because of all the reports Yellow had been giving her. Watching Spinel and the pebbles play, she just wanted to drop everything and go play with them.

Sighing, she looked back to her reports.  _ Spinel doesn’t want to play games like that with me anymore. After what I did, I should just be glad that she’s even willing to be in the same room as me. _

With a hiss, the door to her chambers opened. Standing in the door frame was Blue Diamond's Pearl. “Pink Diamond, Blue Diamond requests your presence.” She stated, her voice calm and soft.

Pink sighed. Considering how many members of her court ended up in Blue Diamonds court, this was inevitable if she ever wanted them back, especially after she had yelled at her in the throne room. Putting the report away, she walked over to the door, catching Spinels eye on the way out.

Despite Spinels more standoffish attitude towards Pink, she had not taken Pink leaving the room that well the first time after they’d come back from the garden. Thankfully, the pebbles were there to keep her company, and Pink had been called away to enough meetings with Yellow that Spinel was starting to trust her when she said she’d come back. She still was unhappy, but she gave Pink a little nod and went back to her games with the pebbles.

The walk to Blue’s rooms was far too short in Pinks opinion. Of course, considering how Blue tended to hit everyone around her with a wave of sadness Pink would prefer talking to her through a screen, but that would be improper, so she made the walk in silence with Blue’s Pearl. 

Blue’s Pearl brought her to Blue’s extraction chamber, and as the flood of memories hit her she entered the room.  _ Focus on why you’re here, you need to get the members of your court back. With how she treated you, imagine how she treated them. You need to get through this without yelling or starting a fight.  _ She thought to herself, unhappy with the situation.  _ But if she starts a fight, then that’s on her. _

As she reached the top, she saw Blue Diamond laying in the tub. “Pink, so good to see you again.”

_ Really? We’re going back to pretending to be nice?  _ Pink thought angrily. “Hello Blue, you wanted to talk to me?”

“After our recent conversation, I met with Yellow, and she informed me that you were so eager for a colony in part due to my methods of punishing you for acting out.” Blue said.

_ So we’re just going to start off with this, alright. _ “Yes Blue, that was a major reason that I wanted my own colony.”  _ That and the millennia of not being taken seriously by either of you. _

Blue sank lower into the tub. “Pink, I didn’t punish you like that because I wanted to, I always believed that if me and Yellow punished you ourselves, you wouldn’t have to answer to White again.”

_ Again.  _ The word dragged up unwanted memories in Pink. Memories of her first Pearl, and of how White had turned her into a mindless puppet as punishment. Taking a deep breath, she kept herself calm as she replied.

“That wasn’t your call to make Blue. I’m a Diamond, just like you, and I don’t need you ‘protecting’ me.” She winced at how much venom she put into “protecting”.  _ Don’t start a fight Pink, you can’t just start a fight. _

Blue locked eyes with her for a moment before sighing. “If you believe you are capable of handling whatever punishment White may inflict on you, then I am prepared to order the tower you were kept in during your punishments decommissioned.”

Pink stood there in shock, not believing her ears. “Just like that?”

Blue frowned “Not ‘just like that’ Pink! White’s punishments are worse than anything me and Yellow ever did to you. I’m prepared to do this to respect your desire to stand on your own, but ”

“Thank you Blue, please give the order, and in the future don’t try to protect me by hurting me.” She said, ice in her voice.

Blue flinched “Yes, well, now that that’s behind us we can move on to important business. First, the members of your court that joined mine are starting to arrive on Homeworld, but most need more time to hand over their responsibilities to members of my court.”

“Alright, I’ll gather the ones that are here and get to work on preparing for a new colony.” Pink said, determination filling her.  _ All I have to do is use what I learned about organic life from Earth and I’ll be able to get enough results to keep Blue and Yellow off my back for years! I’ll be able to figure out what to do about Earth, try and stop the empire from killing planets, all these great things! _

“Thank you Blue, is there anything else?”  _ I don’t want to be here when you decide to drop the nice act. _

“Pink, you’ve been so serious since you came back. Don’t you want to stay and talk for a bit?” Blue asked.

“I’m sorry Blue, but I have a lot of work to do, re-assembling my court and preparing for a new colony.”

Blue seemed agitated by that. “Pink, don’t you think you are rushing into this? Maybe you should just take a few years off, relax here for a while.”

_ Nothing on Homeworld is “relaxing” Blue, not after living on Earth and getting to actually be free.  _ “No Blue, I know what I’m going to do. I’ve already gotten Yellow to agree to let me use my colony to experiment with organic life, and she’s going to help me get a meeting with White to get her approval.”

“Pink, your obsession with organic life is what got you shattered last time!” Blue cried.

Pink blinked for a moment, confused. “What?”

“Your Rose Quartz gems and their powers to heal organic life. They got so attached to organic life one of them shattered you!” Blue was crying now, and Pink found herself taking small steps towards the door.

“Blue, just because one gem from a series went rogue that doesn’t mean the rest will. I mean honestly, there were barely any other Rose Quartzes who joined her rebellion. I’m sure the rest have been just doing their jobs like any other Quartz since you took them into your court.” Pink said.

Blue went silent, and Pink felt a sense of unease wash over her. “Blue, they have been doing their jobs properly, right? There haven’t been any other rebellions?”

“No, there haven’t been. But the Rose Quartz gems…” Blue seemed to brace herself for what she was about to say next. “After you were shattered, Yellow and I ordered every Rose Quartz gem to the zoo station, where we had some of your agates bubble them away to keep any of them from rebelling again.”

Pink felt like she had just been punched in the face. “You did what?”

“Yellow wanted to shatter them for what she did to you, but I couldn’t let her. They were yours, and you put so much effort into them, so we kept them in their bubbles in the zoo.”

That was too much for Pink. “How dare you.” She whispered through gritted teeth.

Blue whipped her head around in shock, but before she could answer Pink continued. “How dare you imprison an entire type of gem just because one of them went rogue. How dare you lock away loyal members of my court for something they didn’t do.”  _ How dare you punish them for my mistakes. _

Blue stared at her, hand covering her mouth.  _ She’s surprised that I care about what happens to the gems in my court. Of course she is, it's not like she would.  _ The two stood there, Pink glaring up at Blue, until Blue started to speak.

“We couldn’t risk another rebellion Pink, not after what happened to you.” She said softly.

Pink stared at her, rage filling her.  _ I can’t believe I didn’t see this coming. Punishing an entire type of gem for what one did…  _ “I’m going to let them out.”

“Pink, you can’t just…”

“They are part of my court, and they are being held at one of my stations. I am going to let them out.” Pink said, turning to leave, hearing Blue call out for her to stop as she left. She made it out the door before Blue was able to get herself out of her tub, and she nearly ran back to her rooms.

  
  


Returning to her room, Pink threw open the door. “Spinel! I’m heading to one of my old stations, are you coming or staying?”

“Are you kidding? Anything that’s got you like this is something I’ve got to see.” Spinel replied. Turning to the pebbles, she began to say her goodbyes as Pink tried to plan.

_ We need a ship, Yellow left one for me in one of the docking bays, but I can’t remember which one. Where did that message go?” _

As she searched through her portable console, she heard a knock on the door. When she didn’t move to open it herself, Spinel turned to look at her. “You know we have to go past whoever is out there if we want to leave, right?”

Pink sighed, standing up and opening the door. Outside was Yellow Diamond’s Pearl, not Blue’s. She barely had a moment to get over her surprise before the Pearl began speaking.

“Pink Diamond, my Diamond has sent me to inform you that the first members of your court are ready and waiting for you in chamber 517-D.”

Pink blinked in surprise.  _ Right, Yellow said she was going to get that done soon. Why is this all happening today? We had more than a week where I just sat around reading reports and now everything is hitting at once? _

“Thank you, I will be on my way to collect them shortly. Are they only the gems that went to Yellow’s court or also the ones from Blue’s?”

“Gems from both Blue and Yellow’s court are in that room awaiting you.” The Pearl replied.

Pink nodded. “Thank you for informing me, I will be on my way to collect them shortly”  _ Before Blue orders them held back to try and stop me from going after the Rose Quartz’s. _

Yellow’s Pearl saluted and walked off. Pink turned to Spinel. “Change of plans Spinel.” She said “We’re getting these gems before we go.”

“Yeah, I heard. So what’s going on Pink?”

Pink sighed and gestured out the door. “I’ll explain on the way.”

As they walked down the hallway, Pink could feel Spinel judging her. “So all of these gems are bubbled away because one of their type ‘shattered’ you?” She asked.

Pink winced at the emphasis Spinel put on “shattered”, but there was no one around to hear it. “Yes” she sighed, “It’s horrible, and we’re going to let them out.”

“And all we have to do is dodge Blue Diamond until we get off the planet, with a small detour to grab a bunch of gems who have no idea you’re alive, and wouldn’t understand why you’re avoiding your fellow Diamond.”

“Also I don’t remember where the ship is docked.”

Spinel gave her a look “Docking bay 3-17, like the Pearl told you three days ago.”

Pink blinked and sighed.  _ She sent her Pearl to tell me in person instead of sending a message. That’s why I couldn’t find the message with the docking bay number. _ “Thank you Spinel, I know this isn’t exactly my finest hour but…”

“Are you kidding? It’s like a giant game of tag with added challenges! This is going to be so much fun!”

Pink blinked in surprise at those words. Turning to look at Spinel as the moved through the palace, she considered the gem in a new light.  _ She was always pretty smart while we played games, and if she can interpret this as a game and have fun with it, what else can she make into a game? _

She didn’t have much time to think, soon they arrived at the chamber Yellow’s Pearl had told them her court would be at. On the other side of the closed door, she could hear muffled conversations from the gems inside. “Spinel, could you warn me if anyone comes to this room? I don’t want to get caught off guard.”

At Spinels nod, Pink took in a deep breath to steady herself and entered the room. Inside, 17 gems from her court were standing around, and all 17 looked towards the door when she opened it. Every conversation stopped immediately, and as they noticed her gem, they were all visibly shocked.

No one moved for several moments before a Pink Lace Agate with her gem over where a human's heart would be stepped forward. She stared at Pink, eyes full of tears, and spoke.

“How? How are you here? I saw her shatter you.”

Pink blinked in recognition of the Agate, she had been in charge of part of Pinks protection detail. Recovering from the surprise, she answered.

“My fellow Diamonds built a machine to copy me onto a blank gem when I was shattered. It didn’t work at first, but after they added some hourglasses to reach back in time, and after thousands of years it finally was able to grab me”  _ copy me “ _ from right before I was shattered.”

For many of the gems in the room with her, many who had just been beginning to get over their shock at her arrival, this was too much. A sob came from one of the gems in the back, and as if a dam had burst soon all of them were crying. Pink stood by the front, feeling incredibly uncomfortable with the whole situation.

_ I can’t believe they’re this happy to see me. They’ve all been with Blue or Yellow longer than they were with me by this point, and they are still crying over me being back?  _ Realization hit her like lightning  _ This is what Spinel meant when she told me how much a gems Diamond means to them. They looked up to me, and that’s why they care so much that I’m back.  _ Staring at the weeping Agate in front of her who was struggling to hold a salute through her tears, she made a decision.  _ I’m not going to treat them the way Blue and Yellow treat their courts. _

Kneeling down, she rested her hand on the Agates shoulder. “What is your n… designation?” She asked.

The gem looked up at her, eyes wide. “P...Pink Lace Agate Facet 5 Cut 7XA, my Diamond.” She stammered out. 

“Alright, now 7XA, I know this is a lot to take in right now, I had some issues with it myself, so don’t worry so much about holding that salute. It’s ok to let it out, this is a special occasion after all.”

The Agate stared at her, her arms twitching for a moment before she broke out of the pose and wrapped them around Pink, her tears flowing freely. “It’s really you. You’re really here.”

At the sight of an Agate embracing a Diamond, the room went silent, staring in shock. Pink recovered from her surprise after a moment, wrapping an arm around her and looking out to the rest of them. “Does anyone else want to join?” She asked, extending the other arm.

For a moment, no one moved, and then a Fire Opal in the front took a step forward, and again all of the gems surged forward. Pink found herself buried under a pile of sobbing gems, and she was caught up in the moment that she started crying as well.

The cry pile lasted only a few moments before the gems started to back off, nervous and worrying if they had gone to far, even though they had had the permission of their Diamond. Rising up from the ground, Pink looked at the room and sighed.  _ I won’t be able to break down the caste system in one day, but showing them that it’s ok to show emotions to someone higher up than them can’t hurt. Now I just have to build on this. _

Turning to the group, she raised her voice so the whole room could hear her. “Thank you, all of you, for welcoming me back like this. Now, we have a lot to go over since my… departure, but this isn’t the appropriate place. I will be taking a ship to visit one of my old stations and let the gems there know I returned, considering how few of you there are, I believe we’ll have no problem fitting you all in it. Then we can discuss matters more in depth.”  _ And I can stop worrying that Blue is going to pop up to continue our little argument. _

The gems accepted her statement with little debate, falling into line after her. 7XA, the Pink Lace Agate who had started the hug pile, walked directly behind her, and Pink got the distinct impression that she was trying to stay as close as possible. As they walked, the Agate got a lot closer to Pink than was usually acceptable, only pulling back if other gems came by.

The gems in the palace had gotten used to Pink over the last couple of weeks, and the rumors and whispers had faded, but now with her full court behind her they were back. Pink couldn’t make them out this time, the footsteps of nearly 20 gems muffled even the loudest conversations, but she could guess that the rumor mill would be working overtime.

Arriving at the docking bay, Pink saw the ship Yellow had prepared for her. It was a hand ship, green tinted, and Pink frowned at the sight.  _ When I have some free time, I’ll make a ship that doesn’t look like a body part. _

Leading her court towards the ship, she was saluted by the pair of Citrine guards at the main entryway. “This ship is yours to command by order of Yellow Diamond!” They said, saluting.

Pink gave them a nod. “Very well, Yellow knows where I’m going, and I have my court here to provide crew. You are dismissed.”

“Yes Your Lustrousness!” They shouted before departing. Pink kept looking over her shoulder as her court filed aboard, until only her and Spinel were left outside.

“What’s wrong Pink?”

Pink shook her head. “I just, I can’t believe that Blue is just letting me go after our fight. It’s not like her to just give up when I push back.”

Spinel shrugged. “Well, maybe she’s changed. We should get going before she finds you here though, just in case.”

Pink nodded. “Right, we should”. As she walked into the ship, she wondered to herself:  _ Could Blue really have changed? Is it even possible for a Diamond to change that much? _

Putting those thoughts behind her, she sealed the ship behind her and gave the order to take off. As they left Homeworld behind, she sat and watched the stars, wondering just how much of what she thought she knew about gems was wrong.

Below: The best image of Pink Lace Agate I could find to give you an idea of her color scheme. Her form is similar to Holly Blue, but without the hair things.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, I looked for a long time to find a Pink Agate that was called something other than Pink Agate, because naming conventions get weird when you have Pink Agate interacting with Pink Diamond. The best I could find was Pink Lace Agate, so that's what I went with. As you can tell by her actually getting dialogue, she's going to be a recurring character, and honestly it is a lot easier to write her than any canon character since I don't have to worry about contradicting canon characterization.
> 
> As always, let me know what you think of the story in the comments.


	6. Assembling the Court Part 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Pink has left Homeworld with a ship, a few gems from her court, and the drive to free the wrongfully imprisoned Rose Quartz gems in the zoo.
> 
> Now she just has to turn all of that into a plan

After setting the ships autopilot for the zoo, Pink had noticed that all of her court were acting strangely around her. Considering the way their emotional crying had broken Homeworld’s strict rules on affection between gems of different type, this wasn’t surprising, but it was annoying. Gathered in the observation deck, she could feel the tension in the room, as if they were all worried she would change her mind and punish them for breaking the rules.

Deciding that the awkward silence had lasted long enough, Pink spoke up. “Alright, now that the ship is underway, I think I should explain to you all what my plan is. Earlier today while talking about former members of my court, I learned from Blue Diamond that after a single Rose Quartz shattered me...” They all reacted to that, but the agate from earlier, 7XA, seemed especially hard hit by her words. “The remaining Rose Quartz gems were bubbled in a station originally built to preserve humans. Since all except the commander of that station are apparently former members of my court as well, I decided that I would go there personally to release the Rose Quartz’s and begin rebuilding my court.”

The reactions from her court were varied. The majority were shocked, and Pink swore she could hear a whispered reference to “the traitors cut” from a gem in the back. Some of them seemed supportive though, with 7XA looking like she was about to start crying tears of joy.

After the initial shock wore off, Pink continued. “I know many of you aren’t very experienced in dealing with Quartz soldiers, but this is going to be a very time-consuming task, and I could use all the help we can get.” At that, quite a few of the gems looked very nervous. Pink realized her mistake almost immediately. _ This is a military task, many of these gems aren’t military, and they don’t want to go outside their roles _ . Sighing, she added, “If you don’t believe you can be of assistance with the Rose Quartz situation, step forward and we’ll find something for you to do.” _ Maybe something they aren’t “supposed” to be doing to get them used to going outside Homeworlds boundaries. _

Nine of the gems stepped forward, which worried Pink massively. _ So that leaves me, Spinel, and eight other gems to handle unbubbling the Rose Quartzes. All several thousand of them. _ She sighed and shook her head. _ I’ll deal with that as we get to it. _

Looking over the nine gems who had come forward, it finally sank in that she was a Diamond again, and she wouldn’t be able to get to know all the gems with her as well as she had the Crystal Gems. Suppressing those emotions, she began to distribute tasks. A pair of Pink Zircons were sent to write up official documents ordering the Rose Quartz gems released and a trio of Peridots she told to get a copy of the data the zoo had on its human inhabitants and combine it with old studies from on organic life from Earth and other colonies to produce a report for her, hopefully giving her court something useful to base their experiments on once she got her new colony setup. 

After those were dealt with, she ran into an issue. The remaining four were a mix of aristocratic gems without much to do until her court was properly setup, so Pink gave various makework tasks to the Pink Tourmaline, Cuprite, and Red Beryl.

As each gem was given a task, they moved to the edge of the room, leaving the last gem from this group stood alone. A purple Iolite with her gem on her forehead, she seemed to shrink as every gem in the room watched her. Pink drew a blank on what to assign her to until a thought occurred to her. _ Iolites are good at investigations… _

“Iolite, a lot has changed in the empire since I went to Earth, I need you to provide information on these changes for me.” Pink said. The Iolite froze, staring up at her.

“My Diamond, I will not fail you!” She said throwing up a salute. “What do you need from me first?” 

“I will be looking to establish a new colony within a year, so information on new machinery and methods for establishing colonies will be appreciated, but beyond that I could just use a general overview.” _ Especially from a non-Diamonds perspective. Yellows lessons were nice, but they were very general and large-scale, probably because she was trying to fit thousands of years into a few hours. _

As Iolite drew back, Pink turned to the eight gems who had volunteered to help with the Rose Quartzes. “Alright, everyone knows what to do, we still have a while until we get to the zoo, so you can do whatever you wish until we get there.” She told them, and as they dispersed Spinel and her were left alone on the observation deck.

  


About half an hour after her court had dispersed from the observation deck, Pink was wandering the halls of the hand ship, trying to focus on her plan for unbubbled all the Rose Quartzes and bringing them up to speed with only 12 gems, and not on her guilt over how her decision to fake her own shattering got them locked up in the first place. 

Spinel had wandered off to play with the other members of Pinks court, leaving Pink alone with her thoughts. _ My court was full of terraformers and soldier, the terraformers will be useful for setting up a new colony, and the Rose Quartz’s powers with organics will come in handy for experimenting with organic life, but we’ll need heavy equipment to make real progress. I’ll have to get some from Yellow or Blue until we get off the ground, but considering how I acted towards Blue and how _

Turning a corner, she ran into Pink Lace Agate 7XA, knocking the smaller gem to the ground. Surprised, she leaned down to help. “I’m so sorry, are you alright?”

“Ohhh, what? Ahh! My Diamond! I’m fine, everything is fine, it’s all my fault I’ll get out of you way…”

“No, it’s fine.” Pink said, grabbing 7XA’s hand. The Agate froze, staring at Pink’s hand.

“My.. My Diamond I…” She stared up at Pink. “I… It’s just been a lot to take in.You’re really back, we’re going to free the Rose Quartzes, and I just....” She started crying as Pink pulled her up.

Pink pulled her into a side room and closed the door. “It’s ok, no one will walk in on us here. What’s wrong?”

7XA looked at her. “You… You were shattered. I saw her do it and I was too far away to do anything, and my squad couldn’t catch her and she got away and, and…” She broke down, crying into her hands. “I’m so sorry my Diamond, I failed you.”

“It’s alright, 7XA.” Pink said. “I’m sure you did your best.”

The Agate sniffled, hiding her face. “Blue Diamond wasn’t. She made me poof and bubble all the Rose Quartz’s under my command for what happened to you.” At that, Pink froze up. _ Blue and Yellow made their Agates bubble them. Of course they did, they thought they’d killed everything on Earth why wouldn’t they. _Pink refocused on 7XA, who hadn’t noticed her distraction and had kept talking. 

“...and then when they learned I had been guarding you that night I got reassigned and shuffled around Blue Diamond’s court for thousands of years. Every assignment I had, none of the Quartz’s I commanded respected me! They all knew I failed to save you, and none of my superiors supported me if I tried to enforce order, and when the soldiers I was assigned to got written up for discipline issues I got punished.” She was weeping now, leaning against the wall.

Pink felt guilt slamming down on her. _ She spent thousands of years suffering because of me, blamed for something I did. This is my fault, and I need to make it up to her somehow. _

Kneeling down, she rested her hand on the Agate’s shoulder. “I’m sorry you had to deal with that. There was nothing you could have done there, and it’s not fair that you had to deal with that.” Sighing, she tried to put on a smile. “But on the bright side, We’ll be getting back the Rose Quartzes soon.”

“My Diamond, I” She choked up, looking at Pink. “Thank you.”

“It’s alright, I couldn’t just leave my court waiting.” _ Where Blue could come and try to take them back. _

Before either of them could say anything more, there was a knock at the door. “Hey Pink” Spinel shouted “You in there? I’ve been looking for you.”

Pink sighed and opened the door. “I thought you wanted to go play with the others for a while Spinel.”

“Yeah, but they just kept ignoring me and telling me to go bother someone else. So I ended up back here.” She turned to 7XA. The Agate avoided eye contact, blushing. “Oh hello, what’s your name?”

“I’m, I’m Pink Lace Agate Facet 5 Cut 7XA.” She stammered out.

“Huh, that’s going to be weird. I can’t call you Pink since that’s what I call our Diamond over there.” Spinel said, jutting a thumb behind her. “What do you want me to call you, 7XA or Lacey?”

“Uhhh, I, uhhhh…” The poor Agate looked like she was having emotional whiplash. Pink could sympathise, this conversation was very different from the talk they had been having. Although that might have been Spinels plan...

“Seriously, what should I call you? Lacey sounds better than 7XA, but if I run into other Pink Lace Agates things might get mixed up.”

“The Quartzes I commanded used to call me Sway.” She answered, her voice soft and full of longing.

“Sway, like this?” Spinel asked, moving side to side like she was on a boat at sea.

“No, Se-way, like the first part of Seven.”

Spinel blinked a couple times in confusion. “Ohhhhhhh, 7XA, Sway, I get it! That’s pretty clever, those were some really smart Quartzes...” She trailed off as Sway started crying again.

Spinel wrapped her in one of her big hugs, with plenty of shapeshifting letting her wrap herself around the much larger Agate, who looked like she both wanted her to continue and to shoo her off. Pink kneeled down, looking her in the eyes.

“Sway, it’s ok. We’ll get them back, we’re on our way to get some of them back.”

Sway looked up at her. “Thank you my Diamond, I’m sorry for bothering you with this.”

“You aren’t bothering me at all Sway. A leader looks out for those under her command, and that’s what I’m doing. If you have something that’s bothering you, I can help you.” She said, looking into Sway’s eyes.

The Agate nodded to her. “Thank you my Diamond.” She said, a sad look on her face. “I really should get going, I have to find somewhere to get my command reorganized and catch them up on what’s happening and… and apologize for not being able to protect them.” She could barely look up.

Pink and Spinel made eye contact, and Spinel gave a small nod as she pulled her arms off Sway. “Alright” Pink said. Sway gave one last salute and left the room.

Spinel turned to Pink. “Well, she was fun. She’ll be a good friend in the future. You know, if she doesn’t find out the truth.”

Pink sighed, leaning against the wall. Spinel was right, if the rest of her court was as emotional over her return as Sway was, then telling them would not go over well. “I don’t want to lie to anyone anymore, but if I tell the truth…”

Spinel interrupted her. “I get why you don’t tell them, but if you make friends with people who were hurt when you were ‘shattered’ then you’ll have to be ready for when they do find out.”

“I know Spinel” Pink started walking out of the room. “I just, I can’t deal with it until I’ve dealt with a lot of other stuff. I’ll get to it when I can.”

“Uh-huh. And I’ll be here to help keep you from lying when you don’t have to.” Spinel said, following her down the hallway. “So, you went back to being a Diamond pretty quickly, ordering gems around like you’ve never stopped.”

Pink winced at her words, the truth hurting. “I’m still a Diamond Spinel. Even with all my memories, I’m still a gem, and I still have my purpose programmed into me.” Sighing, she looked out a window. “No matter what I do, I can’t really change. I can just pretend to be someone I’m not, but that push to be the Diamond I was supposed to be was always there, even when I…” She looked around, trying to see if there were any listeners nearby.

“When you were playing games with your Pearl the other Diamonds wouldn’t approve of?” Spinel finished for her.

“Yes.”

“Alright, Pink I told you I would be here to stop you from lying when you didn’t have to, and that includes lying to yourself.” Spinel said, startling Pink. “ I can see you from the outside, you are very different than you used to be.”

“That’s just me putting on an act, a cover. Deep inside, I’m still the selfish, short-sighted brat I was all those millennia ago.”

“No you aren’t.” Spinel insisted “She wouldn’t have cried after seeing me again. She wouldn’t have told me everything, and she wouldn’t have felt guilty if I’d mentioned her commanding other gems like a Diamond, she would have taken it as a compliment.”

Spinel leaned in and whispered to her: “Be honest Pink, can you really say that none of the gems you were trapped on Earth with changed? That I haven’t changed?

Pink stopped short, her mind racing. _ Spinel is right, the Pink Diamond that went to Earth wouldn’t have done that. But I feel the same, even though I know she was a different gem I feel like there’s no difference between us sometimes. Is this what change is? How did I not notice this before? Spinel is different, Garnet went from bumbling in the woods to being a calm and powerful fighter, and Pearl grew from being a normal Pearl into a sword fighter. _

Spinel interrupted her musings. “Well, I can see I’ve given you a lot to think about, do you want to talk about it?”

“If we can change, then any gem can change.” Pink said, her voice steady and controlled.

“... Yeah? That was kind of my point…”

“If any gem can change, does that mean that the other Diamonds can change, have changed? That Blue might have actually meant it when she was upset about me being shattered?” Pink asked.

“I mean… it’s not impossible. You’re a Diamond and you did it.”

Pink stared out into space, the distortions of the gravity drive sending light flickering over the viewing glass. _ If they really have changed, I might have messed up how I talked to Blue… no, she needed to hear it, even if she had changed, and I needed to release the Rose Quartzes. This was the right thing to do, I’ll deal with her when I get back to Homeworld. _

Pink felt Spinel move alongside her, staring into space with her. Her presence was reassuring, letting her know that she still had someone who both knew everything about her and was willing to put up with her. Together, the two stared into space as the ship made its way to the zoo, and Pink used the last free time before their arrival to think about the revelations that Spinel had forced her to acknowledge.

  


A while later, the ship slowed down, the gravity drive disengaging. The time to ponder philosophical question ended, and Pink ordered the ship to dock with the exterior ring. As the ship docked, the first ones out were a quartet of Amethysts that right now were her courts only Quartz soldiers. _ But that’s going to change. _Pink thought as she followed them. Ahead, she could hear the Amethysts talking, and as she rounded the corner she saw that they were talking to a pair of Amethysts from the zoos security force.

At the sight of Pink Diamond, all six Amethysts stopped talking and saluted. “My Diamond!” One of the two exclaimed “You’re not shattered!?”

Pink smiled even as she sighed internally. _ Not this conversation again. _ “It’s a long story. Take me to the gem in charge of this station, I need her to assemble all the gems here for me to announce my return.” _ And so I only have to tell this story one more time today hopefully. _

“Yes my Diamond!” The two shouted, turning and guiding her down the hallways. As they walked, they encountered other gems, Amethysts and Jaspers mainly. As they ran into these gems, Pink was surprised to see how many off-color gems there were. A Jasper that was thin like a Pearl, a diminutive Carnelian, and others with more minor issues all around her. _ Well, at least Blue and Yellow gave them tasks instead of shattering them for being off-color. _She thought as she gave the skinny Jasper a smile. The gem blushed and quickly fell into formation behind her.

After a few minutes, they reached the command station of the station. One of the Amethysts knocked on the door, and as the door opened Pink laid eyes on the gem Blue had entrusted her “legacy” to.

“What are you all doing here, get back to your posts!” She shouted, shoving the Amethyst who had opened the door back.

“Holly this is important…”

“I don’t care what you layabouts think is important, if it’s important you send one or two to inform me and the rest of you stay at your posts, or have you lazy lumps of rock forgotten everything I’ve tried to teach you over the last several millennia!?”

Pink was not amused by this, and gently nudged her guards to the side as she moved forward. _ Maybe we should have contacted the station before docking, but if this is how this Agate acts it’s a good thing I didn’t let her have time to pretend everything was fine. _

As she moved forward, the Agate was still yelling. When Pink made it to the front though, she paused, turning to face the gem who had dared interrupt her. Her face froze mid-scream, and given their respective heights, she almost immediately noticed Pinks gemstone right on her stomach.

“Hello” Pink said. “I’m Pink Diamond, and I’d appreciate it if you could stop insulting the gems under your command and gather the gems on this station together for me to make an announcement.” 

The Agate just stared at her, frozen in shock for a moment before throwing up a salute and a hasty “At once my Diamond” and running into her station. As the Agates voice rang out over the intercom, Pink frowned at what she had seen, making a mental note to see about “giving” that Agate back to Blue as soon as possible.

Arriving in a large room, Pink stood up in front of the room, and as gems filtered in, they all noticed her immediately. The Agate spent that time desperately sucking up to her, but Pink was really getting tired of listening to her talk. About fifteen minutes later, all the gems on the station were gathered together, and Pink began to talk.

“Hello everyone, I am Pink Diamond. I know you were told I was shattered, and I was, but I’m back, and that’s a complicated story....”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Headcanon used in this part: The bubbles are Pink, but the Rose Quartz gems wouldn’t be locked up if Pink was still around, and if you look at screenshots from the zoo arc some of the bubbles appear to be different shades of pink, so that means they were bubbled by other pink-colored gems, like the other members of Pinks court. So the idea for an OC who was high enough rank to interact with a Diamond regularly and had plenty of reasons for anger when the truth gets out seemed perfect to me.
> 
> 7XA's name Sway (pronounced Se-way because I actually know someone in real life who has that name so that's what it defaults to in my head) is something I'm sticking with, but I'm worried about the spelling. Do you guys think I should keep the spelling the way it is, or change it to something like Seway or Saway?
> 
> Also, this chapter got re-written, so if you see any errors or confusing parts, let me know in the comments, and thank you everyone who left kudos for getting this story over 100 kudos in five chapters


	7. Gathering the Court Part 3

After repeating the story of her “resurrection” for the second time that day, Pink Diamond stood in front of a crowd of gems. All except the Agate in charge of this station were either current or former members of her court, and they had hung on every word of her story with awestruck focus. The story was hard enough to tell normally, and that just made it worse for her. Thankfully, she managed to make it through without incident, at least until she explained why she had come to the zoo station.

“And because they are rightfully members of my court and deserve the chance to return to my service as much as you do, I will be taking volunteers to release the Rose Quartzes from their bubbles in this station.”

Immediately the blue Agate began to sputter in response. “My Diamond! Those gems were bubbled away on the express orders of Blue Diamond! You can’t just release them without her approval!”

Pink turned on her. “I can and I will. Those gems are members of my court, and this station belongs to me. If your loyalty to Blue Diamond is so strong that you will not obey me then I will drag you to the hanger, throw you into a ship and send you back to her myself. Those gems are going to be released no matter what you do, so don’t waste my time trying to fight me on this, understood?” Pink was not in the mood to debate this, she was going to free the Rose Quartzes and make things right, and if this Agate wanted to get in her way she would get steamrolled.  _ They never would have been locked away if I had been less short-sighted, and I am going to fix this no matter who tries to stop me. _

Murmurs filled the room, and from the way even the gems that were technically under her command backed away from her, Pink could tell they wouldn’t get in her way if she went to make good on her threat. The Agate seemed to understand that too, and her arrogant pose melted away as she looked around. Throwing up a salute, she beat a hasty retreat with a muttered “As you command.”

Looking around, Pink could tell the entire room was staring at her. Turning to the nearest gem, and Amethyst in a Blue Diamond uniform with her gem on her left shoulder, she asked her, “What is your designation?”

“Amethyst Facet 5 Cut 8XJ My Diamond!” She answered.

Pink frowned at the number. “You’re from Earth, correct?”

“Yes My Diamond, all of us except Holly Blue were made on Earth.”

Pink nodded.  _ Of course they just stuck the gems from Earth out of the way on the zoo, I’m not surprised. _ Turning to the side, she caught the eye of the skinny Jasper from before, who was standing in the back near some other gems whose forms and colorations were very much out of line with Homeworlds view on what gems should be. “And I’m assuming you all came from the Beta Kindergarten?”

The Jasper swallowed nervously. “Yes my Diamond, we were a rush job, so our kindergarten produced nearly all… off-color gems.” She said, her head down as she tried to avoid eye contact.

Pink frowned as she walked over to her. Lifting her head up to look her in the eyes, she said: “It’s alright, I can’t exactly complain about off-colors when I came out like this.” At her words, everyone froze, the idea of a Diamond implying that she was an off-color was too much for them, and in the back Spinel smacked her head with her hand.

Pink heard movement behind her as Sway came up beside her. “My Diamond, if that’s your command, then we will not interfere with any off-color gems in your court.”

“Yes Sway, that sounds good. After all, if that rule was implemented when I emerged, I wouldn’t be here.”

Sway looked very uncomfortable at the sentiment, even as the off-color gems in front of them looked like they were about to break down crying. “As you command my Diamond. Now, might I suggest we move to release the Rose Quartz gems now?”

“That sounds like a good idea, but considering how many there are we need some volunteers…” Pink was cut off as dozens of gems volunteered to help. “Alright, alright, some of you have duties to attend to, but we’ll take as many as we can!”

A few minutes later, Pink opened a giant Diamond sized door with around 40 various gems behind her, walking into the giant room. Looking around, she only noticed a few Rose Quartz gems in bubbles, but as she looked up she saw more and more of them, the minor color variations washing out in a sea of pink. Staring up, the reality of what had happened hit her. Right in front of her was every surviving Rose Quartz gem, and even though they had only been made on Earth there were still hundreds if not thousands in this room. Staring up for a moment, she felt the other gems filter in, waiting for her to give commands.

Shaking herself out of her thoughts, she started to give orders. “Spinel, use your shapeshifting to pull them down. Amethysts, get up on the ledge and see if you can jump up to grab them. Sway, coordinate the rest of the gems to pop the bubbles and explain what’s going on, once they’re settled see about getting them to work, Rose Quartzes can jump high and regulate their descent.”

Sway nodded. “I remember that My Diamond.” She answered before turning to give orders. Pink winced, remembering that the last time she had been in this room Sway had been made to poof and bubble the Rose Quartzes under her command.

Turning back to the bubbles, Pink watched as the first Rose Quartzes came to the ground. Around their gems, light began to form into a body as the first one began to reform. Walking over to her, Pink helped her stand up as she shook her head. “Oh, what? I’m free? Thank you…” She said as she looked up at Pink, who gave her a small smile.

“Welcome back.”

The gem blinked up at her, confusion on her face that brought back memories to Pink.  _ She looks so much like the form I had on Earth.  _ She thought as the gem stared at her. Suddenly, the Rose Quartz realized that Pink was still touching her, and she jumped back into a perfect salute.

“My Diamond, I… I heard you were…”

“I was.” Pink answered, stunning the gem in front of her. “It’s a bit of a confusing story, you see back during the start of the rebellion the other Diamonds made a machine…” Pink relayed the story again as a small crowd of Rose Quartzes gathered around her, tears flowing freely as gems that had thought they were to be shattered or bubbled forever tasted the relative freedom of returning to the service of their Diamond.

Sway pulled as many Rose Quartzes away to help as she could, and as she did new ones came forward and Pink told the story again and again. No matter how much she hated the story, no matter how much she hated the reminder that she was just a copy of the original Pink Diamond, the looks on the faces of those gems as they were freed softened the pain, and she found herself crying along with them.

After an hour, as each Rose Quartz brought down others and the pace picked up rapidly, the room was soon full, with gems spilling out into the nearby hallways. Realizing that things were going wrong, Pink ordered the gems to head to the room she had made her announcement in.

That room wasn’t large enough to hold them either, so she sent Amethysts from the crew to lead groups of Rose Quartzes to other rooms while she went back to the control center to access the intercom. Knocking on the door, she was greeted by a terrified Holly Blue Agate.

“Pink Diamond! How can I be of assistance?”

“I need to use the intercom, there are too many gems to fit them in one room.”

“Of course, right this way.” Holly Blue lead her inside. Pink was uncomfortable with how friendly she was acting, but she went along with it.  _ It’s not like she’s stupid enough to attack a Diamond, right? _

“Now, press here and the station will be able to hear you.” She said, and Pink nodded in response before leaning over and talking into the microphone.

“Attention, attention, the is Pink Diamond speaking. First off, I would like to welcome all of you back into my court. However, I have some bad news. It’s been over 5000 years since you were all bubbled away, and a lot has changed. Don’t worry though, I’m still getting used to the changes too, so there’s no shame in feeling confused.” She pulled back from the intercom and sighed.  _ Is this how I want to make it up to them? They lost millennia of their lives because of me, and I can’t even tell them the truth. _

Shaking her head, she turned the intercom back on. “Right now, many of the Agates who lead you are still deployed to other courts and have not been returned. We have two agates with us right now, Pink Lace Agate Facet 5 cut 7XA and Pink Agate Facet 9 cut 9XC. If you were under their commands, please congregate in....”  _ Shit what conference rooms aren’t full? Think fast uhhhhhhhh.  _ “...hangar bay 1 for 7XA and hangar bay 2 for 9XC. The rest of you organize yourselves based on what Agate you were assigned to using the available conference rooms, and we’ll get you back to your Agates once they return to my court. That will be all, thank you for your understanding.”

Turning off the intercom, she leaned back and heard Holly Blue Agate speak up. “Your Radiance, is it wise to leave so many Quartzes without Agates? Perhaps we should rebubble the ones whose Agates haven’t returned yet…”

She stopped talking as Pink turned and stared at her. “That will not be necessary.” She said through gritted teeth. “I am confident in my ability to keep my court in line. However, that brings up a conundrum: this station belongs to my court, and you are a devoted member of Blue’s court.”

“Yes I am your Radiance.” The Agate responded.

“In light of this, and in light of Blue’s likely need for loyal Agates to replace the ones sent back to my court, I believe you would be best suited returned to Blue Diamond.” Pink said, her voice calm as she stared down the Agate that had suggested she re-imprison most of the Rose Quartzes.

“Of… of course, do you have a replacement in mind my Diamond?” Holly Blue asked.

“Yes, Pink Agate 9XC will be an acceptable replacement for you.”

Holly Blue sputtered. “My Diamond, she is in command of a unit of Rose Quartzes! This station is full of Quartzes as it is, they’ll all just layabout doing nothing if her detachment is added to the garrison here!”

Pink turned to her and frowned. While she really didn’t like the way she was talking, she was right that overstaffing the zoo was probably not a good idea. But waiting for a free Agate to arrive could take weeks or months, so she made a decision. “The combined deployment will be temporary until the garrisons original Agate can be found. In the meantime, some of them will be attached to 7XA to reduce overcrowding.”

“My Diamond… their original Agate never made it off Earth.” Holly Blue told her, her voice low.

“What?” Pink asked, surprised.

“Apparently, she was directing the rest of their unit to use the warp pad in an orderly fashion the last time she was seen, and when the Galaxy warp to Earth went down she was on the other side.”

Pink sighed. “Very well, in that case the deployment to 7XA and 9XC might be longer than anticipated, but unless an Agate with no command shows up that’s my only option. Thank you for your input, that will be all.”

Holly Blue Agate nodded, gave a salute, and marched out of the control room. As she watched her go, Pink sighed before getting up. She had a pair of Agates to talk to and a load of Quartz soldiers to wrangle.

Hanger bay 2 was a mess, full of Rose Quartzes gathering around Pink Agate 9XC, who was struggling to give orders through her tears. As Pink approached, the sea of gems parted, and 9XC turned to face her with a salute. Pink smiled back before giving her the news in her best ‘Diamond voice.’

“Agate 9XC, Holly Blue Agate, the current commander of this station, is a member of Blue Diamond’s court and has returned to her Diamond. As a result, this station has no commanding officer. Therefore, you are to take command of this station, effective immediately, with your detachment being assigned here with you. The existing garrison will be split between you and 7XA until a replacement Agate can be found for them.”

As 9XC stammered her thanks, Pink gave her a reassuring smile and some words of encouragement before moving over to hangar bay 1. There, she found Sway having her own emotional moment with her command.

“...I’m so sorry, Blue Diamond insisted that you were too dangerous after what happened to Pink, and I couldn’t just argue with a Diamond!” She was crying as she embraced one of the Rose Quartzes. 

Pink was tempted to back off, but some of the gems noticed her, and quickly the entire crowd knew she was there, opening a path for her towards Sway, who was scrambling to act normal.  _ Doesn’t she know by now that she doesn’t have to do that around me?  _ Pink thought, concerned.

“Sway, I have some good news and some bad news.” She said. “Which one do you want to hear first?”

“... The bad news, my Diamond.” Sway said, her concern evident as the gems around her shifted awkwardly.

“Well, since the current commander of this station is a member of Blue’s court, she’ll be leaving, so 9XC will be in charge here. But with the number of Quartzes already here, putting them and her command here seemed like a waste, so some of them will be assigned to you.” Pink said.

“I understand, I will do my best to bring them up to speed.” Sway said, bowing. “And the good news?”

“Well, I need a personal guard now that my court is being reassembled, and since you’re the only one here with experience leading the guard of a Diamond, I’m putting you back in charge of my personal guard.”

“I… My Diamond I can’t do that after last time! I let the rebel slip through and she shattered you!” Sway answered, genuine pain in her voice.

Pink felt incredibly guilty hearing her that sad, and she desperately wanted to just tell Sway the truth, but she knew that if she did that her entire court would hate her, and worse word would get back to the other Diamonds. So instead, she just smiled and kneeled down to look Sway in the eyes.

“That wasn’t your fault, believe me. I don’t blame anyone but the rebel for what happened that night, and you shouldn’t blame yourself.”

Sway leaned back, stunned by her words. “I… Thank you, my Diamond. I won’t disappoint you.”

“I know you won’t.” Pink said, an encouraging smile on her face. When Sway looked up at her, Pink saw a look in her face that she had seen on many faces over the millennia on Earth, a look that she had last seen on the faces of a strong, renegade Pearl and a wonderful musician who had ended up playing a show in the town near their base and giving up his career to stay with her. As she saw that look on Sways face, one thought ran through her mind:  _ I am not ready to deal with this again. _

A few hours later, Pink was moving through the halls with her new guard. Organizing the division of the station garrison had been… difficult, even with the knowledge that it would be temporary many of the gems had been reluctant to part with comrades they had worked with for thousands of years. In the end, they had managed to come to an agreement on the division, and Pink had decided to finally go see what she had been avoiding since she got to the zoo.

Entering the main observation platform, she turned to the technician on duty, who leapt to her feet to salute. Waving the gem down, she walked forward to the front of the room, where a collection of view screens designed to look like windows projected views from inside the various habitats in the zoo. Looking over the current setup, she saw something out of her worst nightmare. Humans, that wonderful species that could adapt to anything stuck in a rigid, controlled system that stripped them of any chances to grow, leaving them ignorant and pliable in a zoo, pampered and incapable of doing anything without being told.

_ I’m sorry.  _ She thought,  _ I didn’t know Blue would do this when I asked to save the human race. I should have stopped her.  _ A sense of determination filled her as she stood there watching.  _ I will see you all set free, this station will be put to a less horrible use. I promise you. _

Behind her, she heard Spinel walk up beside her. “Hello Spinel, done playing with the Quartzes?” She asked.

“Nah, just wanted a break.” Spinel answered, watching with her. “So those are humans? Don’t look like much to me.”

“That’s because they aren’t in their natural environment.” Pink answered, her voice wistful. “On Earth, humans do remarkable things with so little, but here they have everything they need, and they can’t do anything themselves.” She could tell out of the corner of her eye that the gems staffing the observation deck were incredibly uncomfortable with the way she was talking.  _ The truth hurts, doesn’t it?  _ She thought bitterly.

Spinel gave her a look. “Oooookaaaay then, so what are you going to do?”

“Probably find a way to make them less dependent, give them more chances to grow. If I get approval from the other Diamonds, maybe try experiments with them to give them lifespans and power like a gem.”

“Wow, pretty ambitious plan there Pink.” Spinel answered.

Pink shrugged. “What can I say, spending all my time thinking about the next day or so has gotten boring, I wanted to look a bit further into the future this time.”

Spinel gave a soft laugh. “Fair enough, that’s something you always could use practice with.”

Pink rolled her eyes as the two of them stood in silence. After a few moments, a gem tried to get her attention. “My Diamond?”

Pink turned around. “Yes?” The gem was one of the Peridots that had been part of her original court she had told to make a report on humans and other biological species to base her experiments off of.

“We’ve got a copy of the analysis of human biology, and the old studies are archived on Homeworld, but given the amount of data here and the size of our unit, we were wondering if there was perhaps a specific subject you wanted us to focus on?”

“Well, a long-term goal of mine is to figure out how to combine human adaptability and the strength and lifespans of a gem”  _ Without needing a gem to give up her form to have a child with a human  _ “so any information on potential ways to make that work would be appreciated.”

“Of… of course My Diamond.” The Peridot answered, surprise evident. As she backed away, Pink decided she had seen enough of the humans in the zoo, and she turned to leave, Spinel following her.

Three hours later, after a long day of organizing her court and determining who would come back to Homeworld (Sway and her command only, the rest to wait on the station until their Agates returned) and dealing with the thousands of issues involved in having a bunch of Quartzes get released in close quarters and told that their Diamond was back from the dead, Pink was relaxing in a room on the hand ship. Spinel has gone off to spend more time with the Quartzes, and Pink had retreated here because there was basically no peace anywhere outside the human habitats in the zoo and she knew that if she went in there she would probably do something rash like free all the humans. As much as she wanted to do that, right now there wasn't anywhere under her control to put them, and from what she remembered about diseases taking them back to Earth would be bad for their chances of survival. As she sat and pondered what to do, the door hissed open, and the Iolite from earlier stood in the doorway.

“My Diamond” she said, her voice soft “I have a preliminary report on changes to the empire since you left ready, if you wish to hear it.”

Pink nodded. “Yes, please come in.”

“When you were shattered, the empires production of new gems hit a massive stumbling block, which combined with the losses taken in the final suppression of the rebellion on Earth and removing rebel cells from the rest of the empire that were inspired by the rebels actions on Earth, the empire entered a period of widespread resource shortages…” She began, presenting the changes to the empire in a simple and understandable manner. Pink was impressed by how professional and thorough her presentation was considering how long she’d had to work on it, and without direct access to Homeworlds archives to boot. At the end, Pink leaned forward, impressed.

“That was very informative Iolite. I should promote you to official investigator for my court for this, I could definitely use someone of your skills.”

Iolite hesitated as she responded. “My Diamond, surely you should wait for other Iolites to return to your court before making a decision like this, it’s incredibly likely that I’m not the best choice for that position.”

Pink gave her a look. “Yes, but you are the best I have right now, and who knows how many weeks until another Iolite shows up? My court never had that many, and the rest are probably busy with their tasks and can’t be pulled away easily. I need an investigator now, especially if I’m going to be starting up a colony soon.”

“Umhm” Iolite answered wordlessly. “From what I’ve heard, this isn’t going to be a traditional colony, you intend to experiment with organic life.”

Pink turned and looked the smaller gem up and down. “Yes. How did you hear this, I haven't exactly gone around saying it.”

Iolite relaxed at her words. “I had a hunch when you assigned the Peridots to create a report on organic life, and it got stronger when I heard what you were talking about on the Observation Deck.”

“You were in the Observation Deck?” Pink asked, wracking her memory.

“No, I heard the gossip after the shift change.” Iolite answered, a small smile on her face. “But until you confirmed my theory, I wasn’t certain I was correct. Now that I know what your goals are, I can serve you much more effectively.”

Pink just stared at her.  _ And she said she wasn’t the best choice for a court investigator! She definitely deserves the job. She’ll be a massive help.  _ “Well, based on your recent performance I’m sincerely doubting that a better gem for the job will show up.” She said, a small laugh on her voice.

“Thank you, My Diamond.” Iolite answered. “Will there be anything else?”

Pink thought for a moment before answering. “Actually, there is one thing. I need help preparing a presentation for the other Diamonds to explain why experimenting with organic life is a good use of resources. If it wouldn’t be too much trouble, could you assist me?”

“Of course, I would need access to detailed data from the archives on Homeworld and much more time than I took for this report in order to make an acceptable presentation for the Great Diamond Authority.” Iolite answered. “Also, it would be useful if I knew what your exact plans for these experiments were, what the hoped for result is, so I could create the best argument for why that result would benefit the empire.”

_ Oh yeah, she’s not actually a mind reader, she just does a good impersonation of one.  _ Pink thought, feeling a slight sting of embarrassment for how she’d given Iolite a vague goal and just assumed she’d be able to figure it all out. “For now, my goal is a way to prevent Kindergartens from permanently draining the organic life from their planets, letting more gems be produced on a planet. Also, I want to see if I could seed organic life on a dead planet and then use it as a source of gems instead of having to search for planets with organic life already present.”  _ And then create some blank gems and see if humans can have a gem put in them after they are born and if that works make a quick little visit to Earth to stop aging from taking my Greg from me before I can safely go back there full-time... _

“Very well My Diamond,” Iolite interrupted her musings. “I will focus on those goals while preparing the presentation. Do I have your permission to work with the Peridots you assigned to write that report on organic life to make this report?”

“Of course.” Pink answered.

Iolite nodded before continuing. “In that case, I will have the report ready as soon as possible.”

“Thank you Iolite.” Pink answered, and Iolite gave a short salute before leaving. As she walked out the door, Pink noticed that she seemed a lot more tense than when she had walked in, but the door closed before she could call her back.

_ Of course she’s stressed, you just told her to make a presentation for an idea you had to give to the other Diamonds and let her have three Peridots as assistants. Any gem would be stressed in that situation.  _ Pink thought to herself.  _ You’re a Diamond again, if you ask someone to do something they will treat it as an order. _

Sighing, Pink sat in the room, the question of how to fix the strictness of Homeworlds hierarchy joining all the other issues in her mind. The problems she had to solve, gems needing to drain life from planets to reproduce, tearing down the caste system, helping humans without letting the other Diamonds know the truth about her time on Earth, all of them stacked up in her mind, and she sat there in a room all by herself, the stress of these goals and the realization that she would need to work with the other Diamonds to get anywhere near achieving them hitting her all at once. Closing her eyes, she felt exhaustion join the stress, and she fell into a restless and disturbed sleep.

Also, this is the coloration and gem shape for Iolite, her gem is on her forehead.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So back when I started this fic I expected to update with about 5k words a week, one update a week. That has been blown out of the water by now, turns out writing is pretty fun!
> 
> Thank you to everyone who left comments on this work, all the feedback is what keeps me going.
> 
> As always, let me know if you want clarification, see an error, or just want to ask a question.


	8. Reactions

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The various gems around her react to Pinks return.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is technically not a main story chapter, it's more of a collection of side stories for showing the effects of Pink returning. I'll be doing a little chapter like this every so often to shine a light on the parts that aren't obvious when following Pink herself.

**The Tireless Investigator**

Iolite Facet 5 cut 2YG was concerned. Ever since Pink Diamond returned, something had seemed strange about her. Back on Earth, Pink had always been more hands-off, shutting herself away for weeks at a time as the rebellion had dragged on, and when she had interacted with her court she always did the bare minimum before returning to her chambers with her Pearl in tow. Now though, she was throwing herself into her work, organizing Quartz soldiers and personally welcoming the unbubbled Rose Quartzes back into her court, and Iolite didn’t know why. As an investigator, not knowing what why such a massive change had happened to her Diamond was unsettling.

Walking down the hallways of the hand ship her Diamond had taken for her court, she thought through all her interactions with her Diamond since she had made her return. They had all been so confused in that room, with no one knowing why they had been ordered to report there, and then Pink Diamond had returned, and it was as though every norm vanished as they had all piled on top of her. Blushing at the memory of breaking down crying with the rest of the gems who now made up Pinks court, she tried to focus on their most recent conversation Pinks goals were ambitious, but they were also bizarre. Sure, they made sense in a way, the one gem type Pink had designed ended up having an affinity for human life, and she had seemed to admire aspects of Earth's life before her shattering, but the difference between that and trying to completely change how new gems are made was huge.

Entering a small private room, she began reviewing the information she had on organic life and how it was used to create new gems. As she did so, her thoughts kept coming back to her Diamond. More specifically, her Diamonds goals.

_ Even if her goals are just an extension of her earlier interests in organic life, the way she has been acting is incredibly dissimilar to her earlier behavior. She acts familiar with the various gems under her command and her behavior is focused and driven, while even during the height of the rebellion she was distant from even her highest ranking advisors and her orders had little sense of strategy behind them. _ She winced as she thought that, ingrained instincts to not even think poorly of a Diamond clashing with the truth. _ I’m likely over-analyzing things, or misremembering her behavior back on Earth. _

Focusing on her work, Iolite attempted to gain an understanding of how gem production interacted with organic life, pulling up a report and sliding her hand into the terminal to let the data flow directly from the database to her gem. The connection established, the next step was simply analyzing the vast amounts of data available to her, a task she was both designed for and incredibly experienced with.

An hour later, she realized that this presentation would be easy for all the wrong reasons. _ The amount of research into this topic is incredibly low. It’s as if the process was only researched enough to ensure a high rate of successes without ever looking into the fundamental principles behind it to see if there were any changes to be made. _ Standing up, she shook her head as she walked out to track down the Peridots her Diamond had said she should work with.

_ My Diamond is correct that research should be done, and it is good that she is more involved now, but the fact that it took her going through some mysterious change to even try to do this research is concerning. _

As she walked, she felt questions start to form in her mind. _What inspired My Diamond to order this done? And more importantly,_ _why have none of the other Diamonds ordered research like this done before? Perhaps the databases on Homeworld will have more information for me, but unless there’s a treasure trove of data that isn’t even referenced in the data here, on a station literally built for the study of organic life._

Entering the zoo station, Iolite went to work. No matter how much she knew that questioning a Diamond was a bad idea, all the questions she asked herself still rang through her mind no matter how much she tried to focus on her work. _ It’ll be alright, your Diamond has noticed the issue and is working to fix it, you just need to keep focused on your task. _ She hoped that if she kept telling herself that it would come true.

**The Determined Commander**

Pink Lace Agate Facet 5 Cut 7XA (Sway to her friends, and apparently now her Diamond) took a moment to reflect. Only a few days ago she had been certain that she would spend the rest of her existence dealing with Quartzes who didn’t respect her and superiors who wanted her re-assigned as soon as possible, all because that filthy rebel had snuck past her and gotten to her Diamond….

She stopped, composing herself. _ It’s fine, Pink is back, and she doesn’t blame me. She doesn’t blame me. _ As she repeated those words in her mind, she felt the wave of emotions she had been trying to suppress for the last few hours threaten to overwhelm her. Taking a moment, she leaned against a wall to collect herself, millennia of dealing with hostile gems causing her to do her best to keep any emotions off her face.

_ Focus on happy thoughts Sway, like the fact that your old command is back and _ most _ of them don’t hate you for bubbling them away! Alright, that’s not that happy, how about learning Pink was alive? You hugged her, and not only did she not get mad, she hugged you back, and invited the rest of the court to join in! That’s got to be worth something! Sure, she basically ignored all the rules you have to enforce, but she’s a Diamond, she can make exceptions. Like how she basically told us to ignore all the rules about off-colors. _

The thought of that particular statement from her Diamond did not help her mood that much. The idea that a Diamond could be off-color was… disturbing, to say the least. The Diamonds were perfect, that is the basis of the whole system, and if a Diamond could come out off-color…

_ Forget that, you’re an Agate, you have rules from your Diamond and you will enforce them. Questions like that will just get you in trouble, so knock it off. _ She chastised herself. _ Pink Diamond gave you her trust by letting you take your role in her personal guard again, so you need to make sure you are deserving of that trust, and you won’t do that by sitting around questioning your Diamonds orders. _

With that thought sending determination through her body, she stood up straight and turned down the hallway, ready to rejoin her command and prepare for their new assignment. Turning a corner, she nearly ran into a pair of the Amethysts that had been assigned to her by Pink Diamond. At the sight of her, the two fearfully saluted her.

“Forgive us Pink Lace Agate!” They cried out, although one of them said “Holly” before correcting herself. Sway frowned, reminded of the new members of her command. _ They spent so long on guard duty for a station that never saw any threats under an Agate who didn’t respect them that they freak out at anything. I know Pink wanted to get them out from under that Agates control, but now my command is nearly a third larger than it should be! _

Outwardly, she hid her concerns under a mask of professionalism. “At ease 8XK, 8XL. You two didn’t do anything wrong.” The two of them looked at each other, dropping salutes but staying tense. Sway sighed, reaching out and putting her hands on their shoulders, which made them nearly bolt. “Look, I know this is a lot to process right now, but I need everyone on their best performance right now. Our Diamond will be formally announcing her return soon, and when she does how her personal guard looks will reflect on her. So take some time to get yourself calmed down, that’s an order. That will be all.” She said walking away.

Walking down the hallway, Sway could hear the pair whispering behind her, but it wasn’t the hostile whispers about how her Diamond was shattered on her watch that she was used to from other assignments, and for now that was enough for her. Entering a room where some of her command were socializing, she started handing out assignments, but a small voice echoed in her mind. _ You should take your own advice Sway. You can’t keep focusing on work forever, and sooner or later those emotions are going to catch up to you. _ Sway ignored the voice. She had a lot of experience at that.

**The Fixated Matriarch**

Yellow Diamond was busy. This was not news to anyone who had anything to do with her in the last several thousand years; ever since Pink Diamond had been shattered by traitorous rebels she had thrown herself into her work. Blue Diamond sinking into despair while White retreated from interactions with her fellow Diamonds left even more work for her, which she gladly accepted in her bid to distract herself from her emotions.

Pulling up the files on Earth, she reviewed all the classified information that Pink would need to know as a Diamond. The Cluster was still inactive, and the squad of Rubies she had sent to confirm that and retrieve the Jasper in charge of the Earth expedition had still not reported it. Shrugging, she made a note for Pink and moved on. After all, the Rubies had been given a full year for their search, a planet was a large place after all. There really was no reason to rush any of this because all the estimates said The Cluster could emerge anytime in the next few decades, and if there was one thing Yellow knew from experience it was that if an official estimate gave her a 50 year window for something, 90% of the time it happened in the last ten years.

Reviewing the files on that earlier expedition, she frowned as the designation of the arrogant little Peridot who had dared to call her on a private line, defy her orders and insult her to her face. Sure, she was arguing for the same thing Pink had asked for, to find a way to use the organic life on the planet to benefit the empire, but that was no excuse for disobedience. Yellow attached a note that any follow-up expedition would have capturing the rogue gem as a secondary priority and moved on.

The Lapis Lazuli who had been on Earth and freed by a local “Steven” who matched the description of the Steven who had been reported present in the Kindergarten was still MIA, and given her proven ability to return to Homeworld herself, the only options were that she had been captured _ unlikely on a planet as covered by liquid water as Earth _ or turned traitor with the Peridot. Frowning at the thought of a gem of that power on a world so well-suited for her, Yellow attached a warning to the report and closed the file.

After reviewing the other files, Yellow marked all the files as Diamond-level classified and had her Pearl send them to Pink with the less restricted files on Earth. Due to her long history of reviewing as much as she could, Yellow didn’t even think about what would happen if Pink decided to have another gem without Diamond-level clearance review the files for her. Surely when she learned there were files that were classified for her only to read in the report on Earth she would review them in depth, even at her most depressed Blue did that.

Confirming that the files had been sent, Yellow went on to the next file that needed her attention. After all, a Diamonds work is never done.

**The Reluctant Aristocrat**

Fire Opal Facet 9 Cut 6C3 hadn’t lived a very exciting life so far. Made in the Beta Kindergarten on Earth, she had quickly been identified as a mistake, a waste of resources that should have gone to making another soldier as the war turned against Homeworld, instead of an aristocrat who couldn’t be of any use in combat. Thankfully, her gem had been of decent quality, so instead of being shattered as a useless off-color she was taken to the warp pad and dumped at the Lunar Sea Spire, where she had been assigned to a minor role managing supply chains for her Diamonds armies. She soon found that the gems in the Lunar Sea Spire were allotted a large amount of free time by their aristocratic status, which she at first enjoyed before realizing what the others had used their free time for over the last few centuries.

A massive game of court intrigue had been played at Pink Diamonds court for the last several centuries, and her new supervisor was quick to introduce her to it through using her as a scapegoat to avoid consequences for one of her failed schemes against one of the other supervisors. After several more embarrassments and betrayals, 6C3 found herself wondering what the point of it was. Pink Diamond never had anyone shattered or even re-assigned off world as a result of the constant frame ups and plots, and all demotions were temporary, with the tables being turned years or decades later when the victor finally slipped up and made to many foes. In the end, it seemed like everyone was playing the game for the sake of playing the game, even as the war dragged on outside.

Adapting to the court, 6C3’s dislike of her fellow aristocrats grew. Between the way they treated her for being a mistake and the incomprehensible web of alliances and enemies that had accumulated over centuries of intrigue, she found herself dreaming of being somewhere else, of going out and fighting the rebellion the way the other gems from her Kindergarten had, and most importantly of something putting an end to the stupid game.

She got her wish in the worst possible way. When word came down that Pink Diamond had been shattered, the court was thrown into chaos. The arrival of the other Diamonds stabilized the situation on the surface, but behind the scenes the delicate balance was completely upended by their arrival with parts of their courts. 6C3 did her best to avoid the damage, keeping her head down and doing what she could to help out the few gems she called her friends, but in the end the situation spiraled beyond the ability of even the Diamonds to control.

The evacuation of Earth was chaotic, but it was also fast. The Lunar Sea Spire was one of the first locations to receive the evacuation order, and it only took 6C3 a few minutes from hearing the order to make it to the warp pad, and from there the Galaxy Warp. Leaving the planet of her creation for the first time ever, she entered a terrifying new reality. Every former member of Pinks court was interrogated and reassigned, and the minor meaningless games that the aristocrats had played suddenly became deadly serious. Now the rumors that had flooded the court were investigated by teams of outsiders, who dragged gems off by the dozen to interrogate them based on half-true gossip.

6C3 was lucky, she had joined the court too late to make any truly long-term enemies who would want to spread rumors of her being disloyal, and she had been made long after the rebellion started in earnest, which combined with her known enthusiasm for the fight against the rebellion allowed her to avoid the worst of the paranoia. Reassigned to Yellow Diamonds court, she would spend the next few millenia performing much the same work as she had on Earth, and as time went on the pain of the loss of her Diamond and her world faded, but it never left.

Posted on a small station overseeing shipments from one sector to another, 6C3 found herself in a small enough environment that the tangled web that was the court on Earth just couldn’t be replicated, and she was important enough that when she said she wanted to stay neutral she had the power to make examples of the low-level aristocrats who tried to test her. Finally in an environment without stupid plots and schemes, where she could focus on her work and relax, she found several of her wishes had come true, and she desperately wished they hadn’t.

One day, while she was performing the same tasks she had for the last several millennia, 6C3’s supervisor approached her with orders. She was being reassigned to Homeworld, to leave as soon as possible. 6C3 accepted the orders quietly, as she had every order since that horrible day so many thousands of years before. After ensuring that the other gems in her department could cover for her absence, she went to the warp pad to Homeworld.

In the palace of the Diamonds, she left the warp pad and approached a nearby Topaz guard.

“Excuse me, I’ve been ordered to report to chamber 517-D.”

“Oh! You’re one of Pinks aren’t you?” The guard said, a strange tone in her voice.

Taken aback, 6C3 blinked in surprise. “Yes, I was, and I need directions.” She said cautiously.

“Right!’ The guard answered before giving her an in-depth route to follow. “...and that should get you there! If you miss the room, remember the first two digits are what floor it is, the third is what hallway it’s on, and the letter is on the door in the hallway!”

6C3 thanked her and left, her mind racing. She had finally recognized the tone in the guards voice, it was the tone of someone who knew something you didn’t. _ What is going on? Why would they summon members of Pinks court here after all this time? I know most new gems don’t know what happened to her, so are they going to just get rid of us to make sure we don’t tell them about the time a Diamond was shattered? They wouldn’t, they can’t replace us, we’re all Era-1 gems! They physically can’t replace us! _

As she wrestled with her fears, she noticed the other gems in the hallways whispering as she went by. Calling on half-remembered techniques from the Lunar Sea Spire, she did her best to listen in without making it obvious.

“Another one? That’s seven today!”

“Pretty high-ranking one, most of them have been grunts.”

“Nice coloration and cut, I bet she was important back then.”

The gossip continued like that as 6C3 walked down the hallway, and a sense of annoyance grew inside her. Passing down a grand staircase, the gossipers only got thicker. _ At this point I could probably find my way there just by following the crowds. Crowds like this don’t just appear out of nowhere, there has to be a reason for this. _

Finding her way to room 517-D, she entered to find a group of gems waiting. Looking around, she leaned against the corner near the door, looking around and trying to get a feel for what was going on.

After a couple hours, she concluded that none of them knew what was going on either. That did not make 6C3 feel any better about this whole situation. As the rumors swirled around her, she lost herself in thought. _ I hope I’m not being reassigned to work here. If those gossipers are a clue, this place is going to be just like the Lunar Sea Spire, with all the petty games and power plays that came with it. _

The front door opening interrupted her thoughts, and as she looked at the open door she felt stunned. Standing there in the door was Pink Diamond. As her Diamond walked into the room, everyone was silent, and then an Agate in the front of the room asked her how she was here, and 6C3 was moving forward and just trying to understand what was going on as her Diamond explained something about a machine moving her onto a blank copy of her gem.

She was still watching as the Agate in front went and hugged Pink Diamond. And then, Pink not only hugged her back, she asked if anyone else wanted to join!? Without even thinking of it 6C3 felt herself moving forward, her arms moving apart. Before she reached her Diamond every other gem was moving forward, and she found herself buried in a pile of gems. Buried in the pile of gems, her arms wrapped around her Diamond, she cried tears of joy. For the first time since she had realized the truth of life at the Lunar Sea Spire, she felt genuine, unreserved happiness.

As always, here is the gem I'm basing my latest OC, this time Fire Opal 6C3:

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And with that, the final of the cast of OC's I came up with to flesh out Pinks court is introduced. I'm not saying I won't add any new ones in the future, but this is all I have planned for now.
> 
> As always, let me know if you see any typos or just want to share your thoughts on the chapter.


	9. Back to Homeworld

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Pink returns to Homeworld to face the other Diamonds after unbubbling the Rose Quartzes in the zoo.

After a long day and a half of working, Pink Diamond finally had her court organized. Sure, it was something like 98% Quartz soldiers with many roles left wide open due to a lack of “proper” gems for them, but what she had was organized. _ I’d be able to fill the gaps if I didn’t have to keep up appearances for the others all the time. Although convincing the rest of the gems to leave their role and try something else will be… challenging. _She thought to herself with a sigh.

Arriving at the bridge of her ship, she saw a trio of Peridots, literally her only technical specialists, manning the stations. At her arrival, one of them jumped up and saluted. “My Diamond, all members of your court who are returning to Homeworld are onboard. We are ready for departure.”

Nodding her approval, Pink watched as the ship detached from the station and pulled away, gaining a bit of distance before engaging its faster-than-light drives. They would be back on Homeworld soon, and Pink was not looking forward to interacting with the other Diamonds. Busying herself with some minor tasks onboard the ship, their return was far to soon for her.

As the ship came into the docking bay, she saw a pair of Pearls rush into the receiving area. _ Blue and Yellow are probably really annoyed at me right now _she thought as she shifted uncomfortably. Leaving the ship flanked by a squad of Rose Quartzes lead by Sway, she marched up to the Pearls.

Naturally, Yellows Pearl spoke up first. “Pink Diamond, Yellow and Blue Diamond wish to speak with you in the throne room as soon as possible.” She declared loudly. Pink nodded, and after taking a moment to compose herself she lead her guards on to the throne room. Walking through the halls, her emotions ran wild through her mind so she barely heard the whispers from the courtiers at her being guarded by Rose Quartzes.

At the sight of the throne room, Pink remembered the last time she had come here, when she had told Yellow and Blue she was back. That meeting hadn’t ended well, and Pink knew it wouldn’t be good for her court if she picked a fight this time. Not waiting to be introduced, she marched into the room, determination filling her.

Yellow and Blue Diamond turned to the door as she entered, and they both looked upset.

“Pink!” Yellow nearly shouted. “What were you thinking? The Rose Quartz line of gems is unstable and dangerous, and you just let them out? Put them in charge of guarding you after one of them lead a rebellion against you? You’ve put yourself in serious danger!”

“Yellow, I’m not in any danger from these gems.” Pink replied. _ So much for not picking a fight. I guess this technically isn’t my fault though... _ “One gem from the cut became a rebel, and she inspired a few others to join her. The rest of them remained loyal to Homeworld the entire time. Besides, it’s not like she’s the only rebel who wanted to shatter me, she was just the only one who got the chance to actually do it.” _ Sorry Bismuth, hopefully I’ll be able to tell you the truth when I go back to Earth. _

“Pink, think for a minute. The whole cut is flawed, they rebel to easily.”

Pink bit down to stop herself from making an angry retort. _ Get back on track, don’t let this turn into a fight. _ Taking a moment to center herself, she replied calmly. “The rest of the cut was redeployed years before I was attacked that night, there were none in my personal guard when I was shattered, so how can I blame them for it? I might as well blame the Amethysts who were in my guard for what happened. I must respectfully disagree with your conclusions Yellow, and I intend to keep the Rose Quartz gems in service. That is my decision as a Diamond, and if you intend to overrule me I will defend my court.” _ Woops. I really am not good at this, am I? _

Yellow physically recoiled from her words, and Pink braced for another round of yelling when Blue cut in. “Yellow, they’re her gems, let her decide how to handle them.”

Yellow looked back on forth between them, frustration evident on her face. Pink decided to try and calm her down a little. “If it makes you feel any better Yellow, I’m incorporating some Amethysts into my personal guard as well, so I’ll never be watched by _ just _Rose Quartzes.” That really didn’t seem to make Yellow all that happier, but she nodded and sat down regardless.

Blue gave a soft smile now that the fighting was over and turned to Pink. “Pink, we need to discuss officially announcing your return. We can’t have you performing the duties of a Diamond without officially informing everyone that you’re back. Now, for your return we need something suitably grand.”

_ And here it goes, “Pink plan a ball for us” like before. Actually, maybe I can get around this… _“Well Blue, I have a few members of my court who I can assign to plan a ball, but personally I’m to busy getting caught up to do it myself. Will there be anything else, a broadcast of some kind?”

Blue nodded at her. “We can handle broadcasting the news to our courts. However I am a bit concerned Pink. Keeping yourself too busy to plan a ball? Are you sure it’s a good idea to work so hard after being shattered?”

Pink sighed. “Well, there’s a lot of work that I need to get done before I can get my new colony going, and with my experiments there’s even more work to do.”

Blue was clearly still not happy with her running off to start a colony so soon after coming back, but she kept quiet about it. Yellow took the opportunity to shift the topic. “Speaking of your experiments, did you learn anything important from the Zoo? That station has been studying organic life for thousands of years, surely there will be some information there that could help your research..”

_ And if I hadn’t taken the opportunity to collect that information it would be evidence that I’m not responsible enough for a colony so soon. _“I did, the data was transferred over to the ship and I’ve assigned a few Peridots to analysing it and any records here on Homeworld.” Pink answered.

“That’s good to hear. White hasn’t gotten around to telling me when she’ll meet with you regarding this project, so I don’t know how long you’ll have to wait before starting it.”

Blue took the moment to interject. “Pink, do you really think this is a good idea? Organic life is so messy and it gets everywhere. Surely now that you’re back we’ll be able to put the resource shortage behind us.”

Pink frowned. “This is something that needs to happen Blue. There are only so many planets we can colonize before we run out, and the farther away we have to put colonies the harder it will be to run the empire. If we can understand why making gems destroys the organic life on a planet, we can learn how to make it independently. We could use planets until their stars die instead of being done in only a few thousand years.” She answered, focusing on the part of her plan that was likely to get their approval and not the parts about making more gem-human hybrids.

Blue sighed. “I guess you’ve been putting a lot of thought into this. I hope it goes as well as you want it to Pink, you always were so fond of organics.” 

Pink could tell she was still uncertain about the whole thing, but that was to be expected. Blue was a traditionalist through and through, and massive changes like this would be hard for her to stomach. Yellow on the other hand would be much more accepting if she could get results, Yellow forgave a lot of things if the end result was higher efficiency.

The three of them talked for a while longer about Pinks plans, the conversation stiff and formal. Wrapping up, Yellow repeated her promise to help Pink convince White to let her run her experiments and Blue did her best to look supportive. As she left, Pink was amazed at how civil the whole thing had been. _ Maybe I actually got through to them. _She thought as her guards met her at the door and she returned to her quarters.

Spinel was waiting for her when she got back, lounging on a couch while lazily playing with a couple Pebbles. “Hey Pink, how’d it go?”

“It went fine Spinel, Yellow and Blue were… reasonable. At least, compared to how they usually act. It was kind of weird honestly.”

“Well, maybe they were worried you were going to run off and leave them, so they’re just happy you came back?” Spinel responded, a playful tone despite the reference to her trauma,

Pink winced at the remark. “Well, whatever the reason, it’s over. The announcement of my ‘return’ is coming soon, and Blue expects me to help throw a ball soon. Since I’ve got a lot of work going on and you have so much experience with cheering people up I was wondering…”

“You don’t want to do it and want me to do it for you.” Spinel said blankly.

“...Yes?”

Spinel just stared at her for several long seconds before smiling. “Sure, sounds like it might be a fun time/ All those gems that haven’t had fun in such a long time, forced to attend by the other Diamonds.”

Pink was regretting several of her recent decisions right now. “Spinel, don’t embarrass anyone in front of the other Diamonds, they have hard enough lives as it is.”

Spinel got a strange look in her eyes. “Alright Pink, I won’t embarrass any gem but the Diamonds.”

“Spinel…”

“I’m kidding! Maybe. Probably. Anyways don’t you have work to do?”

_ ...I asked her to do this because I have too much work to do it myself, if I say I don’t have any work to do that’ll confirm I just didn’t want to do it… _ “Yes, I have a large amount of work to do. I will go do it now.” _ Smooth. _

Spinel seemed to share her opinion of that excuse, and as Pink went and started looking over the massive piles of reports Yellow had given her she heard a mischievous giggle from behind her. Shaking her head, she got to work on reading through the reports.

Three hours later, Pink was 100% done with reports. _ How does Yellow do this all day? It’s nothing but documents and charts without end. It doesn’t help that I spent so long on Earth with only two other gems, we didn’t exactly use reports there. _Finishing up the last section of a report on the redeployment of former members of her court to Homeworld for her to receive them, Pink pulled up the next report. As she read the title, she felt a wave of discomfort hit her..

A Collection of all Information Regarding the Planet “Earth”

_ Calm down Pink, it’s just a report, you’ve seen what it talks about firsthand. It’s not going to hurt you. _ As she began to read, she realized that it was mainly just a dry document about Earth's weather and biosphere. _ Alright, this isn’t that bad… _she thought. Going through the rest of the opening slides confirmed her impression. No mentions of the war to be seen in the first several hundred pages, just reports on the geological aspects of the planet, followed by a brief summary of what Homeworld knew about Earths organic life. There was much less than Pink would have liked, but the material that was there was so esoteric and heavy in jargon that she was hopeful a gem better suited to that sort of language would be able to get more meaning from what little there was.

A knock on the door interrupted her review, and when it opened she came face to face with a nightmare.

White Diamonds Pearl, Pinks original Pearl that had been taken and twisted by White into a puppet, stood in the doorway. “Pink Diamond, White Diamond will see you now.”

Pink was shaken. As she got up to follow the Pearl, her mind was racing. _ She’s still here, she’s still like this. Thousands of years later and she’s still like this. Why would White keep her like this, as a warning? Letting me know what would happen if I step out of line? _Arriving at Whites Head Chamber, her Pearl disappeared, leaving Pink alone with her fears and the gem that had caused most of them. 

“Hello Starlight. I heard you wanted to ask me something?” Came_ that _ voice, the voice that had haunted her dreams the first few times she had tried sleeping, that still slipped in every so often when she dreamed even thousands of years later. The voice of White Diamond, who had taken her Pearl from her and turned her into a bleached shell because Pink dared to actually enjoy her life instead of doing what she was told.

All of this ran through her mind as she stood there, staring up at the massive form of the most powerful Diamond, and by extension being, in existence. The silence stretched on, a long uncomfortable silence that came to an abrupt end when White lost her patience. “Well Pink? Yellow seemed to think this was quite important to you.”

Her words shook Pink out of her shock, and she quickly responded. “It is important White. I had an idea for my next colony and Yellow thought it would be best if I ran it by you first.” White waved her on and Pink braced herself to give the speech she had been practicing.

“I want to study how organic life is used to make gems so I can figure out how to make gems without stopping organic life from ever living their again so we can keep making gems for a longer time instead of just using a planet up and moving on.” She said quickly, her emotions causing the words to roll together in some places. Locking eyes with White, she did her best to project confidence and determination despite those feelings.

After a brief moment, White laughed. “Oh, is that all? Alright Pink, go play around with the organics for a few hundred years. When you get tired of that we have plenty of real work for you to do.”

Pink was stunned. She should have been happy that White had accepted her request that easily, but “real work”?

“What do you mean real work? This is real work, this could change everything! This could completely change how the empire functions, letting us keep colonies permanently producing new gems instead of leaving a trail of dead world behind us!” Pink answered, her offense at Whites words overcoming her fear for a moment.

White gave a soft laugh. “Of course Pink, I’m sure that’s the only reason you want to do this, hmmm?”

Pink found herself stunned again. _ What does she know. How does she know. Oh crap, what if she changes her mind because she knows!? _

“Anyways Pink, I gave you my permission to run your little experiments. Is there anything else you need?” White asked, the smile on her face just confirming Pinks fears that she was somehow reading her mind.

“No, White, I’ll be going now.” She said, immensely proud of herself for not stuttering in fear. Turning around, she felt herself get engulfed by a white bubble and get carried back to her room. As it deposited her back in room, Pink collapsed, tears streaming down her face as she felt panic overtaking her.

Spinel rushed over and shook her. “Pink, Pink what’s going on? Pink are you alright?” Pink didn’t answer, or more specifically, she couldn’t answer. Her mind was racing, her emotions were overwhelming her, and she could barely hear Spinel even though she was right next to her.

_ She just looked at me, and it was like she knew everything. She can’t though, she can’t know everything. She’s not all-knowing, otherwise they never would have used that attack on Earth… _ Pinks thoughts trailed off as a horrible question came to her. _ What if she did know, what if trapping me on Earth was part of her plan? What if she planned to trap me there as punishment for defying her? Is that why the machine was set to let her know I was back instead of all the Diamonds? _

A sharp feeling of pain snapped her out of her fearful ramblings. Looking up, she saw Spinel staring down at her, a look of incredible rage on her face. “What the heck is going on Pink?” She shouted. “Did White hurt you, did she tell you no? You can’t just drop in here and curl up on the floor to cry without telling me what’s going on!” She was nearly shouting at this point, hints of tears in her eyes as well.

“I’m sorry” Pink answered “It’s just, White basically treated my idea like it was a plan for a game, and then when I got upset over her treating me like a kid she implied that she knew I had other reasons to want to do this research and”

“Whoa, OK, stop. What exactly did she say? She might be playing mind games with you Pink, try to remember her exact words.” Spinel interjected, gripping Pinks shoulders and looking her in the eyes.

Pink recounted the whole experience from start to finish. It was easy since she hadn’t been in there for that long, but she had to stop several times and try to get herself under control. After she finished, Spinel asked the pebbles to build Pink a seat and helped her off the floor.

“Pink, I don’t think she knows everything. She’s obviously figured out something was off somehow and is playing mind games with you, but she doesn’t know the whole story. So what if she didn’t take your idea seriously, you’ll just have to prove her wrong.” Spinel said, 

Her words were enough to calm Pink down a little. “You’re right Spinel.” She said, wiping her eyes clear. “She can’t know the full truth. Besides, even if she did, she could have done whatever she wanted to me then, but she didn’t.”

“Yeah! So either she doesn’t know or she doesn’t care. I mean, obviously her not knowing is better and more likely, but either way, you’re fine, we’re fine, everything is fine.” Spinel said, her tone full of forced optimism as she tried to convince herself as much as she tried to convince Pink.

Pink gave her a small smile as she stood up. “Thank you Spinel. Now that I have White’s ‘permission’ I’m going to go talk to the other Diamonds about setting up my colony, do you want to come with me?”

She was very obviously not recovered from her breakdown, and Spinel could see that, but it was also very clear that Pink did not want to talk about what was going on, so she simply nodded. “Sure, the Pebbles are fun but there’s not much else to do here.”

Leaving her room with Spinel, Pink wasn’t exactly in a cheerful mood, and it was obvious to everyone around her. Spinel seemed like she was going to say something, but everytime she looked at Pink she seemed to decide against it. Returning to the Diamonds throne room, Pink entered to find Blue and Yellow… were not there.

_ Of course they aren’t here, they actually have courts and colonies to run, why would they sit around doing nothing all day like me? _Pink thought bitterly. Asking her guards to send a messenger to get the other two Diamonds, Pink walked up to her throne. Spinel followed behind her, and after a few minutes of uncomfortable silence as Pink started up at her throne, Spinel said something.

“Pink, are you sure talking to the other Diamonds right now is a good idea? You’re not giving yourself time to deal with what happened with White…”

“I don’t need time to deal with it, there’s nothing to deal with. You said it yourself, either she doesn’t know the truth or she doesn’t care about the truth.”

“Pink that didn’t mean you should just ignore what happened and go right back to work!”

“Well it’s not like taking time to think about it will make it any better!” Pink shouted. “I tried that Spinel, I tried taking time to think about where I messed up back on Earth and you know where it left me?! I was”

“Shhhhhhhh” Spinel covered Pinks mouth. “Not so loud, we don’t know who’s listening.”

Pink was not exactly happy about that, but she listened to Spinel and dropped her voice to a quieter, but still angry, level. “You know what waiting around, thinking about my mistakes and never trying to fix them left me? It left me messed up enough that when I came up with the idea of having a human baby and giving them my gem to make a hybrid, I went for it and didn’t change my mind ever in the nine months I was pregnant. So no, Spinel, I don’t want to just sit around and think about what happened. I want to fix this, I want to fix all of my mistakes, and I can’t do that if I’m sitting around feeling bad about things.”

Spinel had a look of shock on her face, and she backed a few steps away from Pink after hearing that. Seeing this, Pink slouched over and sighed. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have yelled at you like that. I just really want to get this done so we can leave Homeworld and I don’t have to worry about White all the time.”

Spinel nodded. “Alright, but once we go to setup your new colony, you are going to have some fun.” Pink was about to argue when Spinel held up a finger in front of her face. “No! You aren’t getting out of this, I don’t care if it’s with me or some other gem, but I know what you need to feel better, and as your friend I am going to make sure you get it.”

Pink smiled at her. “Alright, if you insist. But first, I need to talk to Blue and Yellow about getting my colony started. 

Naturally, at that moment Blue Diamond entered the throne room. Walking through the room she approached the thrones, coming up short when she saw Spinel. “Oh! Pink, you found your old Spinel! How wonderful, we thought she was lost forever when you… left.” She said, trying to avoid saying _ shattered. _

Pink noticed that Spinel was not happy with that statement, but she wasn’t saying anything. _ We can complain about Blue together after we’re done here. _She thought before putting on a fake smile for Blue. “Well, she was actually in my old garden, I’m surprised you never went there.”

“Really?” Blue asked. “How curious, I never thought to visit your garden, I was so worried that it wouldn’t, well, fit me.” She said with a chuckle, gesturing to her size compared to Pink. Pink frowned at the remark. _ Yes I know, I came out small and that’s funny to you, I get it. _

Spinel noticed her mood shifting and interjected. “I’m just so happy to be back with my best friend Pink Diamond! She was really sad when she came back, and I helped her be happy again!” She said. Pink frowned, she knew that Spinel couldn’t exactly tell the truth to Blue, but watching Spinel pretend to be a happy, naive toy again just seemed wrong. Blue seemed to like it though, laughing along as Spinel used her shapeshifting to make some jokes while Pink laughed along to keep up the facade.

When Yellow walked in, Pink actually felt relieved. At least she wouldn’t try and have fun like Blue. Of course, then she actually had to talk about important matters with Blue and Yellow, but at least that didn’t involve Spinel reminding her of her failures.

“Pink, you wanted to speak with us?” Yellow asked.

Pink nodded, using the opportunity to brace herself. _ Remember, you can’t tell them you got freaked out by White. Just get the whole thing over with and get out. _“White called me in to discuss my plans for an experimental colony.”

Both of the other Diamonds froze, and Pink could have sworn the atmosphere shifted at her words. Deciding to ignore it, she continued. “I presented my argument to her, and she agreed to allow me to run my experiments on a colony.”

Yellow spoke up first. “She just… agreed? Just like that?” She asked, her tone both confused and a little hurt, to Pinks surprise. “All these millennia of me asking her if we could make changes or do something different and she just lets you do this after one meeting?”

_ Well this is not good. _“I mean, she didn’t really seem to be taking it all that seriously…” Pink answered. “She kind of implied that it was just another game I was playing and that she expected me to do ‘real work’ when I got bored with it.”

That brought Yellow up short. She sat in her throne, pinching her forehead with a look of exasperation on her face. “That sounds more like White. It’s not perfect, but it’s still all the approval you need to do this. I assume you brought us here to review suitable worlds for your experiments?”

Pink nodded. “Thank you Yellow, I was hoping there were some planets near Earth for me to use for this colony, but if there aren’t any world with organic life will do.”

Yellow frowned and gestured at Blue. “She’s got some planets over there that she could let you have.”

Blue meanwhile was thoughtful. “Unfortunately, all my worlds in that region are being colonized right now. Let me see where the nearest available world would be… Pearl! Come here and show Pink the nearest uncolonized world with organic life to Earth.”

As they reviewed planets, Pink found herself frustrated. Not with how far she would have to be from Earth, there were actually a few planets nearby that were untouched, but with the other Diamonds attitudes towards Pearls.

“I’m just saying Pink, running your court would be much easier if you had a Pearl to help you run things.” Yellow was saying.

“I told you Yellow, I don’t need a Pearl. I can run things on my own!”

“Pink, be reasonable, trying to run a court without a Pearl would be incredibly difficult.” Blue tried to argue.

“I know, and I don’t care. I’m not getting another Pearl!” _ I’m not going to replace her, I’m not going to replace her. She isn’t just a tool to be replaced I’m not going to replace her. _

The other Diamonds paused at the ferocity in her voice, before Yellow sighed. “Alright, try out running a court without a Pearl for a while Pink, if you change your mind, we’ll be here.”

“Yellow!” Blue exclaimed.

“It’s fine Blue, if she doesn’t want a Pearl let her try to run a colony without one.” Yellow answered.

Pink frowned. _ At least they’re letting me try. _“Thank you Yellow, I will let you know if I decide I need a Pearl in the future. Now that We’ve got the planet picked out, I should go and get my court ready.”

“Hold on Pink” Yellow stopped her before she could leave. “You can’t just go to a planet and set up a colony, you need equipment and ships to move the equipment and all the machines to run your tests with. Now, I should be able to spare a few heavy transport ships for you to use, but we need to figure out where the equipment will come from. Pearl, pull up a list of colonization equipment in standby. Blue, do you have anything you can spare?”

“I believe I do, Pearl could you pull up that list for my court?”

Pink hung her head. _ I forgot about this part. Oh well, it had to be done. _She thought to herself. Strangely, the thought did not make her feeling of boredom go away.

Hours later, it was almost done. The list of all the ships and equipment that would be officially transferred to her court, and the list of the ones that would just be borrowed by her court until they could make their own, was being finalized. Yellow was reviewing the list one last time when she turned to Pink. “You plan to return to Earth, correct?”

Pink blinked in surprise. “Yes” _ Where is she going with this? _

“Then I will also transfer a pair of Large Mining Machines to your court.” Yellow marked the list and moved on.

Pink was a bit confused. _ Why would I need those? Those things can crack a planet's crust! Does she think I’ll need to break through the Earth's crust for something? Also wow that’s a really inspired name, Yellow probably came up with it herself. _

Her thoughts were interrupted by Yellow sighing. “Alright Pink, that is everything. I’ll write up the orders and they should be ready to go in a month. Plenty of time for the announcement of your return and for your full court to assemble.”

“Thank you Yellow, Blue, I’ll be returning to my quarters to plan now.” Pink answered, keeping herself from leaping out of her throne only through sheer will. The other Diamonds said their goodbyes, and she left with Spinel. A sense of excitement, of sheer happiness that she was finally going to be out and making things better, came over her, driving out the lingering fear from her meeting with White, and when she got back to her quarters she jumped into calling up members of her court to start preparing, Yellows suspicious addition of mining equipment to the list of machinery she would receive slipping from her mind.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Creative summary, I know.
> 
> According to Google Docs, this is the first chapter for this fic that passes 5k words, and I'm pretty proud of that.
> 
> As always, leave a comment with any typos you see or thoughts you had on this chapter, and thank you in advance for your feedback.
> 
> EDIT: It was pointed out that no Rose Quartzes were in Pinks guard on the night of the attack according to canon, changes have been made to the relevant sections.


	10. The Ball Part 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Pink is back on Homeworld, and she can't wait to leave again. But first, the other Diamonds insist on throwing a ball to announce her return to the whole empire.

After her meetings with the other Diamonds, Pink Diamond threw herself into working with her court. The first 17 members who had joined her on the trip to the zoo had first been joined by the Rose Quartzes, and then by dozens and then hundreds of other gems from her court. Spinel was having the time of her life, with all these new gems she was able to go around making friends, and the few complaints were shut down by Pink telling the complainer that Spinel was simply boosting morale within the court. Lately, she had been hanging out with the various aristocratic gems who made up the bureaucracy of Pinks court. Pink had always had some issues with the more aristocratic members of her court, their adherence to rules and other attitudes reminding her far to much of Blue and Yellow, but Spinel obviously had a different attitude towards them.

With all the work she had to do, reading the surveys of her new colony and discussing how to setup the experiments without revealing how much she knew about how her powers interacted with organic life from her time on Earth, she found herself unable to read the report on Earth herself. Tasking Iolite to create a summary, she moved on to dealing with the constant influx of gems and reports that threatened to swamp her. Despite the difficulty, she refused to get another Pearl, and increasingly Spinel and Iolite found themselves looped into the roles Pearls filled in other courts. If either of them were insulted by this, they didn’t say anything to her face.

After a few days of being distracted by other tasks, Iolite finally was able to meet with Pink to review the files on Earth. “My Diamond, based on my analysis I believe that reclaiming the existing structures on Earth will be a relatively simple affair. Despite the intelligence of the human species, all available records indicate that they are no threat to the forces available to you. However, there is a series of records regarding the end of the war, indicating that the planet might be hostile to gems in some way that would make establishing a colony difficult, but all the details are classified Diamond-level.”

Pink nodded, thinking she knew exactly what Iolite was talking about. “According to Yellow, after the withdrawal the other Diamonds combined their powers to attack Earth, wiping out all the gems on the surface. Those files are probably just explaining the details of the attack and why they think it might still be dangerous.”

As Iolite reviewed her memories of the files, she found herself in agreement. _ The cost-benefit analysis of reclaiming Earth included a massive resource expenditure at the initial stage of any effort, a lingering effect from an attack by the combined powers of three Diamonds could easily explain the need for such a massive investment in time and resources.  _

“In that case My Diamond, let us proceed to the plan to retake the Earth.” She turned on a small projector, and Pink felt a wave of nostalgia for when Pearl used to project for her…  _ It’s better this way, at least this is just a machine and not a person.  _ Iolite noticed her thoughtful expression and waited until she waved her on to commence with her presentation. “This plan was made with assistance by these other members of your court: Pink Lace Agate Facet 5 Cut 7XA, Red beryl Facet 9…”

As Pink listened to the list of gems who had helped make the plan, she felt incredibly guilty.  _ There is no way I ever let this plan go into effect, even with our experiments to not harm the humans on Earth there is no way the Crystal Gems would be able to hide. The moment my court gets access to the Warp network the temple is indefensible, and either the Peridots will notice them using the warp or they’ll have to cross the planet on foot. _

Turning back to the presentation, Iolite was covering the kindergarten. “And so we will be able to begin experiments on potentially revitalizing the kindergarten via the power of the Rose Quartz gems using nearby organic life, however whether we succeed or not is entirely theoretical, as I must stress that until we have begun testing on your new colony world this aspect of the plan is effectively guesswork.”

Pink nodded. “I understand.”

“Moving on, we have plans for rehabilitating the remaining gem structures, such as the Lunar Sea Spire and communications hub, but those mostly consist of ‘determine what state they are in, make repairs as necessary.’ Beyond that, re-establishing our control on Earth will be a simple matter, given all the reports on humans they are projected to pose no threat to us, especially if we remain in a limited set of regions around the existing warp network, minimizing potential interactions between us and the humans.” She turned to Pink, her presentation completed, silently waiting for her Diamonds approval.

“That was very informative Iolite, it's unfortunate that so much of our information on Earth is so out of date though, but I’m sure you did the best with what you had available to you.”

“Thank you my Diamond, you are most gracious.” Iolite bowed to her. “If I might make a suggestion, once your new colony is set up it might be prudent to send a scouting mission to Earth to gain updated information on the status of the humans and the remaining gem structures on the planet.”

_ And find out that the Crystal Gems are still alive, and that gems can inhabit the Earth without problems.  _ Fear ran through Pinks mind as she thought of what sending an expedition to Earth would mean. Forcing herself to remain calm, she told Iolite that she would look into it, and as Iolite saluted her and left to return to her other duties, she worried about Earth.

_ I can’t keep the other gems away from it forever. One of these days I’ll have to go back, and when I do I need to be sure I can save the Crystal Gems from being shattered. If I can’t do that, even as a Diamond, then what am I even good for anyways? _

With that happy thought, Pink returned to the stack of reports and requests that never got any smaller no matter what she did and did her best to sort them out.

  
  
  


After days of hard work, the Pink court went from chaos to organized chaos. Stuck in a subsection of the palace, the court technically didn’t exist, and many of its members were uncertain on what exactly they were allowed to say about what was going on when asked by the gems who worked in the palace. Pink desperately wanted to move up the ball, but to do that, she needed to actually have it planned out first. Which is how she found herself in her quarters with Spinel going over the final draft of the plans.

“Spinel, I’m sorry but we need to make these changes or the other Diamonds will throw a fit! I;m sorry your plan didn’t work out, but”

“But nothing. You gave me a job and didn’t tell me everything I needed to know, and now we have to redo basically everything! How was I supposed to know that the color scheme of the decorations mattered that much?” Spinel asked, incredibly unhappy with the whole situation. 

“I know, that’s my fault, I just... “ Pink hung her head. “Back before I started the colony on Earth, I was always throwing these balls for the other Diamonds, and after a while I started to feel like I was going around playing games and throwing balls while they were running the empire. So when I came back, I tried to avoid having to do it again.” Lifting her head up, she looked Spinel in the eyes. “But that wasn’t fair to you, and I’m sorry for that.”

Spinel met her gaze for a few moments before turning back to the documents laid out before them. “It’s fine, let’s just get this stupid thing over with. I can’t believe there are so many stupid rules about this, I’m actually happy that you never asked me for help before you left.”

“I can’t say I disagree with how you feel.” Pink said, her voice quiet. Spinel gave her a look, and after all the talks they’d had that was enough to get Pink to elaborate. “I used to enjoy doing this, planning the ways the different gems would be positioned, what songs would be played, it all was so much fun, like I was playing with toys.” She said, her voice hinting at her distaste for her past self. “Most of the time I hate how I acted back then, I was greedy, and immature, and I hurt you and so many other gems because of it. But sometimes, I just wish I was like that again, because at least then I was happy.”

“We were both happier back then.” Spinel answered, and Pink felt a pang of guilt run through her at the memory of what she’d done to Spinel. “But I’m going to be honest with you Pink, I like the new you better. I’m not happy with what it took to get you here, but I wouldn’t want to go back to the way things were either.”

“Thank you Spinel. That means a lot to me.” Pink said, genuinely touched by the sentiment from her old friend.

“It’s nothing, I just told you the truth.” She answered.

“It helped me feel better, and that isn’t nothing.”

Spinel turned away from her, focusing on other things. “Then, I guess you’re welcome. If you ever need someone to stand next to you and just tell you the truth, I’m your gem.”

Pink let out a soft laugh at that. “I definitely need someone like you right now, sometimes it feels like the rest of my court thinks I’m going to shatter someone at a moments notice.”

Spinel frowned at her. “Well, you did return from the dead and take them away from jobs they had been doing for millennia, this whole situation is kind of stressful.”

“I know. Hopefully things will calm down once we are able to get the ball done and leave Homeworld, right now the palace is feeling cramped with my entire court jammed into it.” Pink answered, turning to the plans for the ball. Manipulating the holographic design, she said “I think for this section if we just change this we’ll be fine, and I’ll take the blame if one of the others makes a fuss about it.”

“You don’t have to do that.”

“Spinel, believe me, that is the least I could do for you.” Pink answered.

Spinel blushed, turning back to the design for the ball with a small nod. The two of them spent a couple more hours working to finish the design before sending it to the other Diamonds, and afterwards Spinel decided she wanted to go meet up with a couple of gems who had actually agreed to call themselves her friends, leaving Pink to finish the preparations for her court alone.

  
  


After submitting the final plans to the other Diamonds so they could prepare their courts, Pink found herself trying to do the same to hers. Naturally, her restored honor guard had pride of place in the ceremonies, so she met with Sway to discuss getting them ready. After all, first impressions mattered, and she wanted to make sure all the Rose Quartz gems under her command were properly introduced to the empire.

Naturally, finding the commander of her personal guard was a simple matter, if it hadn’t been there would have been something incredibly wrong, and thankfully she had been completely understanding of the need to have the Rose Quartzes impress at the ball. However, she had some concern about what was supposed to happen after the ball was over.

“My Diamond, I understand the logic behind using the Rose Quartz gems to help your experiments, but the gems in your personal guard should not be redeployed from guarding you! There are enough other Rose Quartz gems that doing that will only leave you vulnerable, what could my command do for the experiments that all the other Rose Quartzes can’t?” She asked, impressing Pink with how willing she was to disagree with her in public.  _ I’ll make a Crystal Gem out of you yet Sway. _

Outwardly, she hid this sense of pride behind what she hoped was a calm, professional expression. “I understand that they do not have the numbers to make a major difference, but I don’t believe that guarding me will be a better use of their talents. After all, what exactly are they supposed to be guarding me from?”

“Rebels, or wild organic life, or, or, or…” Sway looked frustrated, her desire to keep her Diamond safe clashing with the logic that there wasn’t exactly anything to guard against. “They also are useful for keeping your court in line, some of those aristocrats have already started playing whisper games and there isn’t even something for them to scheme over until your colony is founded! Who knows what will happen if they are just allowed to run amuck?”

Pink frowned at that, and Sway seemed to shrink a bit at her look. “Sway, unless they have actually done something to deserve being kept in line, I will not use my guards to randomly intimidate members of my own court.”  _ They’re stuck up and care too much about the rules like Yellow and Blue, but that doesn’t make them bad. Sapphire was one of them, and Garnet told me she didn’t hesitate to pull Ruby away from Blue back at the Sky Arena.  _ Looking at Sway’s face, she noticed that the gem was obviously upset and trying to hide it.

“Sway, what’s the real reason?” She asked, her voice soft and understanding.

“I.. My Diamond, it’s just… the night you were shattered, I was there to report, but none of my command was, because of the traitor, and because they weren’t there the traitor was able to get through to you and she… and she…” Sway turned away, hiding her face. Pink placed a gentle hand on her shoulder, firm enough to stop her from running away but soft enough to let her know she wasn’t angry. “Forgive me My Diamond, it’s just… I care about them, and they’ve been punished because of what that traitor did for so long, and I know you say that you don’t blame them but now you’re sending them away again and.”

She was cut off as Pink kneeled down and gave her a soft hug. Stunned that her Diamond had touched her in a friendly way, she stared at Pink blankly as she responded. “Sway, I don’t blame them, and I’m sorry for sending them away the first time back on Earth, that was wrong.”  _ I never should have listened to Blue and Yellow, I should have stood up for them then, I shouldn’t have punished them for what I did.  _ “I don’t want them to feel like they are still being punished for what the traitor did, and if that’s what helping the experiments would feel like, then they won’t be assigned there. I’m sure you’ll be able to find something to keep them busy as they guard me.” She said, a soft smile on her face as she stared Sway in the eyes.

Sway was shocked, staring up at her in disbelief as sheer gratitude overcame her. Moving forward, she wrapped Pink in a fierce hug. “Thank you, My Diamond” she whispered, her body shaking. After a few seconds of this, she realized what she was doing and leapt back, terrified by how many rules, official and unofficial, she had just broken. As she started to stammer apologies, Pink reached out and cupped her head with her hand.

“It’s ok Sway, I’m not going to get mad at you for hugging me.” She said, her voice soft as she fought to keep her emotions in check.  _ I can’t believe… alright I can believe that she thought she would be in trouble for hugging me, but I don’t like it.  _

Sway stood there, silent for a moment, before whispering out a soft “thank you” and leaning into Pinks hand, as if Pinks mere touch was enough to reassure her that everything was ok. After a minute of this, she calmly took a step back and saluted. “My Diamond, I must return to my command now.” At Pinks nod, she turned and walked down the corridor, the long commanding strides characteristic of an Agate seemingly lighter than they were before.

As Pink watched her leave, a sinking feeling came over her._ She went through so much pain because of me._ _If… When I tell her the truth, she’ll be devastated. In fact… _she realized how similar Sway’s attitude after she had reassured her had been to how Pearl had acted the first few times she had gone outside of what was “acceptable” for a Pearl and Pink had told her it was ok. Watching as Sway walked down the hallway, Pink felt powerless to stop the pain she knew Sway was going to feel. _I am going to break her heart, and there’s nothing I can do to stop it because everything I did to hurt her has already happened._

  
  


An hour later, Pink was walking down the hallway on one of the floors assigned for temporary use by her court when she heard a familiar voice coming from one of the rooms. Looking inside, she saw Spinel chatting with an orange Fire Opal. “Yeah I know what you mean, a lot of the gems here are all stuck up, they don’t like having fun or anything.” Spinel was saying.

“They like fun, they just think ‘fun’ involves spending years preparing to get revenge on a gem for the last time she got revenge on them or convincing a gem they are friends and then blaming her when they do something wrong.” The Fire Opal said bitterly.

“Well that’s why I’m here, to show them there are other ways to have fun!” Spinel answered, getting a soft chuckle out of the Fire Opal.

“Our Diamond thinks you can make this band of crusty old gems have fun? You must be really good at having fun.” She said.

“She is.” Pink said, stepping into the room, shocking the Opal who scrambled into a salute while Spinel only flinched a little. “Spinel is a trusted companion of mine, and if she says she can make my court less… treacherous than the courts of my fellow Diamonds then I believe her.”

“My Diamond, I didn’t mean to question your judgement.” The Opal started to answer before Pink cut her off.

“It’s fine, I’m not a ‘crusty old gem’ who will punish you for speaking your mind.” Pink said, which surprised the gem in front of her. “In fact, I think it’s good that some members of my court understand that things can’t go back to the way they were back on Earth. I’ll keep you in mind when it’s time to assign tasks at my new colony, Fire Opal…?”

“F… Fire Opal Facet 9 Cut 6C3 My Diamond.” She answered, shock and confusion all over her face.

Pink nodded an acknowledgement before turning to Spinel. “Spinel, the other Diamonds have confirmed the ball will happen in two days, if you have anything else you need to prepare before the ball now is the time.”

“I’ve already got that handled Pink.” Spinel answered, waving her off. Pink gave her a small nod before turning and walking out the door.

  
  


Inside the room, Fire Opal Facet 9 Cut 6C3 turned to face Spinel as soon as Pink left the room. “What was that about? Why did Pink Diamond just eavesdrop on us talking? Diamonds don’t eavesdrop!?”

“She probably just heard me talking and came over to see what was going on, we are best friends after all.” Spinel answered, trying to play it cool and calm her new friend down. 

Those words got a reaction out of 6C3. “So, did she mean it when she said that she would be keeping me in mind because of my ideas, or was it just because you like me?” She asked, memories of the politics of the Lunar Sea Spire coming to the front of her mind.

Spinel shook her head. “She meant it, trust me. I know what she talks about where no one can hear her, she totally agrees with you on how her court acts. She probably wants you to set an example for the others, like how I’m here to set an example for how to have fun without hurting people!”

“If you say so…”

“I do say so. Now, before I forget, you know about the nicknames the Quartzes give each each other, right? Well considering how many Fire Opals there are in Pinks court, you need one. I’m thinking... Flare.”

“No.”

“How about Starfire?”

“Please stop.”

“Okay then, no nicknames (for now). What do you like to do for fun?”

“... I relax and avoid court intrigue.”

“Alright, I am going to teach you how to have fun like a Spinel!”

“I’m not a Spinel, it would be improper for me to…”

“Ahbaba! None of that! Pink Diamond has entrusted me with teaching her court how to have fun, and I have decided to start with you!”

  
As she was dragged off by the overeager Spinel, 6C3 reflected on the utter insanity of her life ever since she’d returned to her Diamonds court.  _ Well, at least I’m not bored. _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm not dead! I know my update frequency dropped off massively, and that's my bad, but I still was able to keep the gap to less than a week, so I'm calling that a success. I think from now on I'll shoot for one update a week on Friday/Saturday. I might do more, but I'll always have an update then.
> 
> This is mainly a setup chapter, the next one or two (depending on how writing goes) will cover the ball itself.
> 
> As always, thoughts and critique are welcome, if I don't know what I'm doing wrong I will never improve.


	11. The Ball Part 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The ball announcing Pinks return and the beginning of Era 3 is here, and Pink just wants this whole mess to be over so she can leave.

Pink Diamond felt anxious and tired as she waited on her throne for the ball to begin. After thousands of years on Earth, she had gotten used to a slower pace of life, and the days of work to prepare for the ball had been difficult to handle, especially since the last day before had been spent reviewing both the ball and her colony plans with the other Diamonds.  _ No wonder Yellow was always so mean if she does this all the time.  _ She thought to herself as a few courtiers finished the final decorations.

“So you’re sure it’s ok for me to sit up here?” Spinel asked from her seat at the top of the stairs leading to Pinks throne.

Pink nodded “Yes Spinel, I’m a Diamond, and I say it’s ok. If anyone gets in trouble for improper behavior it’ll be me.”  _ And after you made that joke about pranking the other Diamonds during the ball I want to keep you right here where I can see you. _

Spinel seemed to accept this response, and as various lower ranking gems began to arrive she watched as the members of her court take their places amongst Yellow and Blue’s gems. As always, there were no gems from Whites court in attendance, and Pink didn’t know if White would even bother attending.  _ I hope she doesn’t, I don’t need to deal with her sitting behind me and judging me the whole time. _

As the gems took their positions, she looked for the gems she recognized from her court. The Rose Quartzes were over by the Amethysts from the other courts, and as her eyes swept across them she made eye contact with Sway, who was double checking her command. With a small approving nod, Pink watched the Agate stand a little straighter, before one of the Rose Quartzes said something that made the others nearby laugh, and Sway turned to get them quiet.  _ I wonder what that’s about…  _ Pink thought before she heard the sound of music.

Looking up, she saw the green gem that was singing, embedded into the wall. The sight of a gem made only to stay in one place and serve as a glorified instrument unsettled her to her core. At least with gems that could move around they could have a chance to be free like the Crystal Gems did, but that gem and who knows how many others trapped as decorations would never have that chance.

_ I’ll do something to help you, one day.  _ Pink promised silently before the first gems walked forward to present themselves to her, the music being the signal for the ceremony to begin. For now, there wasn’t much she could do for the majority of the gems in the empire, even with her own court she would need to tread carefully in case word made it back to the other Diamonds, but she knew she had to do something. She wasn’t quite sure what, but as the crowd of gems presented themselves to her she knew that even if she could just ignore how other gems were suffering, she would hate to live like this for much longer. The distance between her and every gem in her court except for Spinel was so large, and the way that they all treated her was enough to make her uneasy after thousands of years with gems who respected her but didn’t worship her.

As the various aristocrats came forward, the Fire Opal that Spinel had been making friends with was with them. When it was her turn to present herself, she looked the orange gem in the eyes and gave her a small smile and a nod. Surprised, the Fire Opal blinked a few times before returning the nod, the rest of her form locked in a perfect salute. As she walked away, Pink mentally thanked her for being Spinels friend while she was busy.  _ I can’t even imagine how difficult it must be to keep up with Spinel if you aren’t used to her, and when we get off Homeworld and she doesn’t have to worry about members of another court seeing or hearing about what she’s doing… _

When the rest of her court finished presenting themselves, the time came for the least comfortable part of the night. As the assembled gems lined up, Yellow Diamonds Pearl entered the room to announce her owner. Pink fought back tears at that thought, even after months of interacting with the other Diamonds Pearls and the Pearls of various high-ranking gems she still couldn’t help but get a flash of sadness at the thought of the Pearl that had stolen her heart, the terrifying renegade that she had last seen on the beach by the temple before being thrust into her old life again.  _ But it isn’t your old life, it’s the original Pink Diamonds old life… I’m not dealing with this right now, I have her memories, I have a Pink Diamond gem, that makes me Pink Diamond.  _

Her thoughts were interrupted as Yellows Pearl made her announcement. “Everyone, behold! The daunting, beauty and elegance that is, Yellow Diamond!”

The curtains over the Diamond sized entrance were pulled back, and Yellow entered the ballroom and walked towards Pink, greeting her informally. “Not a bad turnout Pink.”

“Thank you Yellow, I appreciate your attendance.” Pink responded as the other Diamond took her seat. Before them, Blue Diamonds Pearl announced her in the same way.

“You’re doing a wonderful job so far Pink.” She said as she walked up, and Pink forced herself to smile and thank her despite all her emotional issues.

Finally, the worst part of the night arrived. Standing in the doorway was Pink Diamonds old Pearl, the Pearl that Pink had spent so long playing with before White had decided to punish her by taking her Pearl and doing something to her, leaving her a shallow husk that could only obey White. Just looking at the Pearl was enough to make Pink angry, but when she started speaking she was upset for an entirely different reason.

“To those in attendance of the Era 3 ball, White Diamond... has more important things to attend to.” As Pink reeled from her words, the Pearl was encased in a white bubble and moved up onto Whites throne behind her. “Therefore, I will be here to observe in her place. Welcome to Era 3!”

Pink was enraged.  _ After everything I did to make this work, she just sends her Pearl? She’s mocking me, she knows I did something on Earth and this a punishment, a reminder of what happens if I get out of line. _

“Pink? Pink are you alright?” She heard Blue ask her.

With her hands digging into the side of her throne so hard she thought she might break her form from the pressure, she managed to force herself to answer. “Yes Blue, I’m fine.”

“Pink, I understand that White not attending is disappointing, but we still have to make it through the ball.’ Yellow told her as she seethed in anger.

Taking in a breath, she forced her anger back inside, hiding under an emotionless mask. “Fine, let’s begin.” She said before turning back to the assembled gems. Yellow gave the signal for the dancing to begin, and as Pink watched over the sea of gems performing slow, methodical dances as the music droned on, slow and peaceful. Watching the whole scene, Pink found herself comparing the ball to some of the human shows she’d seen.

_ It’s so… boring. I knew it would be bad, but I didn’t realize how bad until now. These gems aren’t enjoying themselves, they are doing it because I told them to, because I needed the ball to be nice and successful to make Blue happy.  _ Sighing, she leaned back in her throne, glancing down at Spinel who gave her a look of discomfort. Offering a reassuring smile in return, Pink turned her gaze over the crowd, watching over the gems dancing on the floor.  _ I can’t stop the ball now, all I can do is just get it over with as quickly as possible.  _ She thought to herself, her eyes gazing over to her court to see the clump of Iolites over by the back corner. As her gaze passed over the Iolite that had been serving as her official investigator for these last few months, she realized that she had never used the arguments that Iolite had put together to justify experiments with organic life, the other Diamonds had just accepted her plans once White had given her approval.

_ White Diamond…  _ a surge of anger overcame her as she glanced up to White’s throne, where her former Pearl stood, watching over the ballroom.  _ Why do you still have her like this White? What do you get out of holding her like this for thousands of years? Did you expect me to come back, is that it? Are you holding her just to mock me, to remind me of what happens when I make you mad?  _ The Pearl didn’t react to her gaze, her face locked in a large smile, her bleached white frame and the marks on her eye reminding Pink of her first major mistake.  _ But not my last. I’ll fix this, I’ll fix everything. I have a second chance to make everything right, and if I don’t, if I mess this up… I can’t mess up again, I let every gem in the empire suffer last time. _

Turning back to the ballroom floor, she noticed the smaller sizes of a few of the gems present. Even the Diamonds courts were not entirely Era 1 gems, and as she saw the smaller Era 2 gems side-by-side with their Era 1 counterparts, she was reminded of the consequences of her last failure.  _ They are like that because of me. Without me to help make the injector fluid, those gems came out smaller and weaker, and killed more of their planets. I need to make it up to them, somehow. I was such a coward that I didn’t think about what would happen to every other gem in existence, I just wish I knew how. _

As the night dragged on, Pink found herself increasingly annoyed, both with the ball and with her past self for enjoying the ball. Thankfully, after hours of dancing and music, the ball finally ended with her giving a brief speech.

“Assembled Gems, I trust you all had a wonderful time tonight. I haven’t been to a ball like this in thousands of years, and I wish to thank you all for making this such a wonderful night!  _ And for putting up with this waste of time.  _ “Now that my court is assembled, I will be far too busy to have another ball like this in the immediate future, but I’m sure that once my new colony has reached its first successes we will host an even grander celebration! Thank you again for making this ball so wonderful, goodbye!” She said, signaling to the assembled gems that it was time to leave.

It only took a few minutes for the room to empty, the gems who had been in attendance filtering out through the various doors in a calm and orderly fashion, and when the last door closed Blue turned to Pink.

“Pink, you know you don’t have to thank them for doing their jobs.”

Pink bit back her initial response, instead calmly answering, “I know Blue, but I wanted to thank them for a wonderful party.”  _ And just because I could have ignored them doesn’t make it right. _

“Well, it was a nice party…”

“I agree!” The voice of White Diamond came from her Pearl, causing all three of the assembled Diamonds to flinch in fear. “That was an excellent party, White Diamond will be pleased to hear about it.” The Pearl said before a white bubble encased her and she floated out of the room.

As she left, Yellow shook her head. “I can’t believe her. Not showing up for the first ball of Pinks return, and sending her Pearl instead?” She asked incredulously.

“Yellow, not so loud.” Blue said with a concerned voice.

Yellow held her angry glance for a few moments before hanging her head and sighing. “I know, it’s just so frustrating how she refuses to treat any of us like we matter. We say we’re ‘The Great Diamond Authority’ but half the time it feels like White ignores everything we do.”

_ Well now you understand how I felt.  _ Pink thought, but she didn’t say anything that could cause drama before she was able to leave Homeworld. “Yellow, is there anything else we need to discuss regarding my colony?” She asked, hoping to shift the conversation around. Yellow blinked a few times at the sudden shift in topic before answering.

“No, I don’t believe so…” She trailed off as Blue swept pink up in a hug.

“I’m going to miss you Pink, you were gone for so long.” She said, and Pink could feel tears welling up as Blues emotions swept through the room.

“Blue, I’ll call you regularly all right? It’s not going to be the same, I’ll still be around, alright?” Pink fought with the tears, refusing to give in to Blue’s power even as it reminded her of all those dark days locked in the tower.  _ She’s not trying to torture you, she’s not trying to torture you, she’s not… _

“Blue, stop using your powers.” Yellow commanded, her voice firm even with the tears in her eyes. As Blue pulled back, she gave Pink a small smile.

“I’m sorry, I know you want to get your colony setup as fast as you can, but I will miss you. If you’re certain you have to go now, then I won’t stop you.”

Pink froze, emotions warring in her mind. For thousands of years before she had been given Earth, Blue had been a constant source of fear and anger for her. But as she stood there, looking up at the massive form of the Diamond who towered over her, she realized she actually felt slightly bad about leaving her.  _ She looks so sad, and she actually seems like she’s gotten better…  _ “Thank you Blue, I’ll get the communications hub set up as soon as I can so you can call me.”

Pink turned and walked out, meeting her guards at the door. Smiling, Pink fell in with them, and together the small group walked over to the docking bay where the first of the ships Pink would use to take her court to her new colony was waiting. 

As her party arrived at the docking bay, she saw Spinel come running up behind them, the pebbles from her room held in her arms. At Pinks look, Spinel got defensive. “What? I wasn’t going to just leave them alone waiting for you to come back!”

_ Like you did.  _ The unspoken words hung in the air as Pink nodded to Spinel, who carried the Pebbles into the waiting ship. As the ship took off, Pink stood by one of the windows, watching as the massive white form of Whites ship/palace shrank behind them.  _ I’ll free them White. I don’t know how, and I don’t know when, but some day I’m going to free every gem on this planet from you, and I’ll never have to be afraid of you again.  _ She promised silently as the ship left the atmosphere, leaving Homeworld, the other Diamonds, and all of their rules with it. The gems in her court might not be ready to go full on Crystal Gem for a long time, and her planned experiments might not even work out, but just being free from Homeworld was enough to put a smile on her face as she watched her court prepare for arrival at their new world.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And so Pink finally leaves Homeworld, but I'm planning on another Reactions chapter next week, so we'll get to see things from the viewpoints of gems at the ball. If you have any suggestions, let me know.
> 
> As always, feedback is appreciated.


	12. Reactions 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The ball and aftermath from a couple of other POV's

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Big thanks to https://abyranss.tumblr.com/ for drawing the images of the gems used in this chapter!

**Old Soldiers**

  
  
Pink Lace Agate Facet 5 cut 7XA (Sway) was not having fun. A ball to announce the return of hr Diamond after her miraculous resurrection sounded wonderful in theory, but as she ran herself ragged trying to get the Quartzes under her command ready that theory sounded less and less appealing. Even when they were in the ballroom she found herself correcting postures and fixing salutes of Rose Quartzes who had spent more than a hundred years on the front lines away from any formal occasions, and the Amethysts that had been added on from the zoo trip were only partially better. If she’d had her way, they would have gotten at least another week to practice, but her Diamond wanted to get her colony setup as quickly as possible, so she made do with what she had.  
As she walked the line of gems one last time before the ceremony began, she saw her Diamond, sitting on her throne at the center of the room and talking with her Spinel, her eyes sparkling in the light while her gentle face held the hints of a smile…  
Pink Diamond turned to look out over the throne room, her movement snapping Sway out of her thoughts. As she looked over towards the line of Quartzes, her eyes locked onto Sway’s, and she gave a small nod. A strange feeling swept through Sway, the same feeling she had been dealing with ever since her Diamond had pulled her aside for a one-on-one discussion about her court, and she felt a smile threaten to break through her tough “command face”. But her good feelings were short lived.  
“You know fraternizing with a Diamond is forbidden, right boss?” An amused voice came from behind her. Whirling around with a look of anger on her face, she looked up and down the line to try and identify the speaker, but as chuckles and hushed laughter ran up the line of Quartzes as the joke spread to those who hadn’t heard she found herself panicking to restore order. Only a few moments later, the music started, signalling the start of the ball. All of the Quartzes immediately stopped laughing and held perfect salutes, but as she walked past she could swear that some of them were chuckling when her back was turned.  
_I am not planning to fraternize with Pink Diamond, and even if I was, if a Diamond approved it then it wouldn’t be forbidden. _She thought to herself as she observed the arrival of the other Diamonds and the ball.  
  
After the ball Sway and her soldiers escorted their Diamond onto her ship, and when Pink was finally aboard Sway assembled her troops for a “meeting”.  
“As you can tell, I’m not happy. I don’t appreciate comments implying that I am engaging in inappropriate activity with our Diamond. If the speaker steps forward we will have a discussion and no one will be in trouble, but otherwise I will have to punish all of you.” As she looked at the cluster of gems, she saw looks of guilt on a few faces, but more concerningly they almost all seemed upset. “Well, what do you have to say for yourselves?”  
No one talked for a few moments before a Rose Quartz with her gem on her leg answered quietly. “I did it.”  
Sway looked over the embarrassed gem, and memories came back. _4XE, above-average soldier with a tendency to engage in minor humorous activities and excusing them by pointing out that she always gets her tasks completed on time or early, but tended to say things without thinking. Nickname… I don’t think she had one…? _Before she could say anything, 4XE continued. “I’m sorry Sway, everyone was all tense and you were getting all flustered and I just kind of… said it.”  
Sway took a moment to calm herself before answering. “Thank you for your honesty, please don’t do it again. Dismissed.” As she turned to leave she heard a set of footsteps following her. Turning around, she saw 4XE behind her, tears in her eyes.  
Stopping in confusion, she stood there as 4XE looked in her eyes. “You changed.” She said, her voice quivering. “I knew something was up with you earlier, but I just thought it was stress from getting all the newbies organized and then getting ready for the ball, but then I saw how you reacted to my joke… What happened to you?” She was nearly crying at this point.  
Sway blinked at her, realization hitting. “For you, the last time you saw me was that day in the zoo when I… when Blue and Yellow Diamond ordered you all poofed and bubbled. For me, that day was five thousand years ago, and I’m happy to have you back, but…”  
“But things aren’t the same as they used to be, and I shouldn’t have just assumed we could go back to how things were on Earth. I’ll try to do better next time.” 4XE said, turning away.  
“It’s… it’s fine. I know I probably would have just laughed about it back then, but I’ve been having a really bad few millennia, so could you just hold off on your jokes for a while, at least while I’m around?”  
“Of course. I’ll let everyone else know.”  
“Thank you.” Sway said, watching the Rose Quartz turn and walk away down the hall. Sighing, she leaned against the wall. _I missed them for so long, but they didn’t experience all those years, so they want to go back to normal, and I don’t know if I’ll ever be normal again._  


_ **Friends Old and New** _

  
  
Fire Opal Facet 9 Cut 6C3 joined the other Opals from Pinks court as they prepared to present themselves to their Diamond. Taking her position, as the group passed the Quartz guards she felt a tinge of envy run through her as she looked up to the towering soldiers. _I was supposed to be made like that, but the incompetent in charge of my injector screwed up. _Forcing the thoughts aside, she focused on the positives. Her Diamond was back from the dead, and no Gem could ever be upset about something as miraculous as that. To make it even better, her Diamond had overheard her complaining about the political games that gems played in her court and had agreed that something should be done to reduce them.  
Approaching the throne, they all greeted their Diamond in the customary way. To 6C3’s surprise, her Diamond looked her in the eyes and smiled at her. Instincts from centuries at the Lunar Sea Spire kept her reaction to only a few surprised blinks, and she decided to roll with the situation by nodding back. As the procession took their places and the ball went on, she could feel the constant glances from the other Opals, and she simply put a small smile on her face, ignoring the whispered requests for an explanation.  
  
The aftermath of the ball was a confused rush to the ships, as Pinks entire court immediately prepared to leave Homeworld and begin their Diamonds new colony as soon as they were dismissed from the ball. Fortunately for 6C3, she was on Pink Diamonds ship, and only three other Opals were onboard, unfortunately there were several dozen other aristocratic gems, and they all lived up to her memories by spending all their free time gossiping. Before the ship had even left the planet, a Purple Opal and a Pink Tourmaline walked up to her.  
“Hi 6C3, it’s been a while, hasn’t it?” The Purple Opal asked. “I was just talking to 5HZ here, and she mentioned that you two used to work together back on Earth. Isn’t that great, the court’s only been back together for a couple hours and old friends are already finding each other again.”  
6C3 stared at her. _Old friends? 5HZ was a colleague who never willingly backstabbed me in the stupid power games, but I wouldn’t call her a friend. And who even is this Opal? She’s familiar, and she obviously is here to figure out why Pink smiled at me, but this is incredibly amateurish._ _She’s either incredibly out of practice or she’s pretending to be out of practice to get me to underestimate her. It’s probably the second one, but thousands of years without playing the game would leave any gem rusty. _Putting a small smile on her face, she turned to 5HZ. “It’s good to see you again, I knew you got off Earth but after that I heard you were assigned to Blue Diamond.”  
5HZ nodded. “Yes, I served Blue for these last thousand years, but I’m just so happy that Pink is back.”  
“Aren’t we all?” 6C3 asked, and the two old friends continued chatting for a few minutes as the Purple Opal, who 6C3 could not remember the designation of, did her best to ingrate herself in the conversation and steer it towards Pink. _Just ask what you want to ask, come on, you can do it. _6C3 thought to herself, before eventually deciding to just let the gem know what she wanted to know to get her to go away. “So anyways, did you hear about Pink Diamonds Spinel and her plan for improving morale in the court?”  
“I heard some rumors.” The Opal answered.  
“Well, she pulled me aside to discuss it, and we ended up discussing the way gems at the Lunar Sea Spire tended to spend a lot of their free time planning petty plots that would never have any long-lasting effects, and while I was talking about my experiences Pink Diamond came looking for her Spinel and overheard. She said that what she heard was proof that her attempt to build camaraderie and boost morale in her court was necessary.” _Not in those exact words, but close enough._  
Both gems froze, staring at her. _That’s right, our Diamond knows about your silly little schemes, and she isn’t happy with them. _“Anyways, her Spinel declared me her friend, and she seemed alright with it.”  
“Are you… are you saying that you’re friends with Pink Diamonds Spinel?” 5HZ asked.  
At that moment, the Spinel in question stretched her head around the corner, putting her face right next to 6C3’s. “Yep!” She said, startling all three gems. Shrinking, she pulled the rest of her body out from around the bend, ending up right next to 6C3. “I’m on a mission from our Diamond to make her court more friendly, and what better way to do that then by making friends?” She asked, a grin on her face.  
The Purple Opal and Tourmaline stared at her for a moment before the Opal shook herself out of her shock. “Well, if it has the approval of our Diamond, then I have no doubt your mission will be a success. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to go meet up with some of my friends and tell them the good news.” With that, she turned and walked away quickly, 5HZ mumbling a quiet “see you later” and following.  
With the two of them alone, 6C3 turned to Spinel. “So, what do you want?” She asked.  
“Well, first rule of being friends, you don’t have to want something from them to go say hello. Secondly, I just wanted to see how you were doing, make sure no one was bothering you about what happened at the ball, but I guess you have that handled.”  
“Yeah, thanks for checking on me though, it’s nice to know someone cares enough to do that.”  
“No problem, that’s what friends do!” Spinel answered. “So, it’s going to be a long trip, got any ideas for games?”  
“That’s your specialty Spinel.”  
“Fine, but one of these days you’re going to have to actually come up with a game when I ask you.”  
“Sure I will.” 6C3 smiled, the fact that Spinel had just told her that she would be trying to get her to perform outside her function flying over her head as she smiled at her new friend.

**New Questions**

  
Iolite Facet 5 Cut 2YG relaxed in a compartment on the hand ship as it carried her and the rest of Pinks court to their new colony. In front of her was a report on some minor issue regarding her Diamonds court, and she was enjoying the light reading as the hum of the ships systems helped her block out everything outside the compartment. Making a few notes on potential solutions, she went to move on to the next report before someone knocked on the door.  
Standing up, she opened the door and found her Diamond standing in the doorway. She threw her arms together into a salute, but Pink waved her off. “Iolite, I just wanted to stop by and apologize, getting the other Diamonds to agree with my plans was easier than I expected so I never used the presentation about it I asked you to make for me.”  
“It’s not a problem my Diamond, it’s actually a good sign that the other Diamonds were so willing to accept your plan, my research turned up some massive gaps in research into the creation of gems. Is there anything else you need from me?” Iolite asked.  
“No, I’m still going over the work assignments, I’ll let you know when we make it to our destination.” Pink told her, giving her a small nod and leaving Iolite with her thoughts.  
_Pink is definitely acting differently from how she used to. I verified with multiple other members of the court that she wasn’t like this before in case I was misremembering, and this confirms it. _Pulling up a hidden folder on her personal device, she pulled up a file containing her speculations on why her Diamond was acting like this. Technically, this behavior was incredibly not allowed, but her instincts to find the truth were strong, strong enough that they partially overcame her desires to obey her Diamond.  
_Pink brings in her Spinel, who was apparently given to her long before she was given the Earth, and is incredibly close with her despite spending more than a thousand years apart. She is also putting a massive amount of effort into reaching out to her court, trusting her Spinel to run this “morale improvement” exercise by making friends with the court, apologizing and asking as if I and the other gems are her equals, and growing close with the commander of her personal guard. On that topic, she went to release the Rose Quartz gems from their bubbles with only two Agates to command them, reforming her personal guard out of the most distrusted Gem type in the empire. All of this put together means… something. It means there’s something going on, and I can’t figure out what it is._  
Sighing, she put away the speculation file and leaned back in her chair with frustration. _I can’t let it get the better of me, I’ll just get working on some other problems,_ Pulling up another minor report of a minor issue, she checked the manifest of the ship and found that the gem that had submitted it was onboard this vessel, and got up to track her down and ask some questions. As she walked away, she did her best to avoid thinking about the mystery of Pink Diamonds change in behavior.

Again, I'd like to give a big thank you to [Abyranss](https://abyranss.tumblr.com/) for making wonderful art of Pink and Spinels forms and my OC's. The whole cast with a Pearl for scale is included below.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Time for one more little look at the gems around Pink before she goes to setup her new colony.


	13. Settling In Part 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Pink Diamond gets settled down on her new colony and deals with the mountain of issues that pop up as a result.

Pink Diamond sat on the improvised command deck of her ship. With her leg ship still buried under the sand on Earth, she was making due with a large chair inserted onto the observation deck of a hand ship with a few stations for other gems to work nearby. Blue had told her it was “below her dignity as a Diamond” to rule like that, but the lack of any easy alternatives meant that when Pink put her foot down and said she wasn’t waiting for a new ship to be built she had accepted it begrudgingly. In the end, she had made due with the improvisation for three weeks as the gems of her court completed the tasks of setting up a colony.

Looking up, she saw the rest of her ships hanging in orbit above her new colony, a large blue and green circle that filled half of the viewport. A small ship broke from the formation and dove for the planets surface, and as she turned to the Peridot at the station next to her to ask why the Gem preempted her question.

“That scouting vessel is assigned to investigate potential locations for a spire to house your court, a promising site was identified and it is moving to get a closer look.” The green gem told her.

Pink leaned back in her chair, a small blush on her face.  _ I guess I’ve been asking that a lot. It’s not like there’s much else for me to do though, everyone’s working and I’m just sitting here reading reports.  _ Sighing, she pulled up a series of those reports, flicking through them absent-mindedly as the planet slowly turned above her.

The sound of footsteps gave her an excuse to put away the reports, and she turned to see the Fire Opal Spinel had befriended, cut 6C3 if she remembered correctly, enter the room. Walking to her “throne” and saluting her, the gem gave her some wonderful news.  


“My Diamond, we have completed the assembly of the prefabricated buildings at the Prime Research Center, the construction of second-stage buildings is beginning now, but the first stage is ready to receive the researchers and begin experimentation.”

Pink smiled at the news. “That’s good to hear. 5SA, inform the research teams that the ship will be landing at the Prime Research Center. 5SB, take us down.” As the two Peridots went to work, Pink looked up and saw the other ships clear a path, and then the planet rotated out of view as the ship aligned itself gravitationally as it dropped from high orbit. After a few moments, the ship entered the planets atmosphere, and only a short time later they were coming to rest hovering over a lake with two of the hand ships fingers resting on the beach to disgorge passengers.

Standing up, Pink beckoned 6C3 to follow her, and the Fire Opal fell in behind Pink’s guards as Pink walked out of the ship and over to the research complex forming on a small rise above the lake.

Once inside the compound, the two of them were confronted with a mess of activity. Even with Gems dropping what they were doing (sometimes literally) to salute Pink, the whole site was a mess of barely organized chaos. Only a few buildings were actually done, with most still under construction, and as Pink made her way over to the buildings that were actually completed she marveled at how disorganized the whole setup was.

Finally arriving, she watched as the Rose Quartzes assigned to research work carried massive pieces of equipment through crowds of Bismuths and other construction gems, and suddenly everything went wrong. A Rose Quartz walking next to a pit the Bismuths were digging for a basement lost control of her precariously balanced load, and as a load of equipment fell, a Bismuth was caught underneath it and shoved onto an exposed rock. Her cry of pain before her form disappeared hit Pink, and for a moment she was back on Earth, in a lava-filled lab and her sword was buried to the hilt in one of her best friends and…

“My Diamond! My Diamond what’s wrong?” She was shaken out of her flashback by 6C3’s concerned voice. Blinking away the tears that had started to form in her eyes, Pink leaped down into the pit, where the other Bismuths were pulling the equipment off their fallen comrade. At her arrival, they stopped to salute, but she waved them off and to their shock she marched forward and started pulling equipment herself, her strength as a Diamond letting her quickly reach the trapped Gem.

Pulling the Bismuth from the ruins, Pink held the Gem in her hands, memories of the last time she held a Bismuth Gem running through her mind. A gasp came from a nearby Bismuth, and as Pink totated the Gem she saw a crack running through the Gem. As the onlookers whispered and some of them even started to cry at their comrades loss, she bowed her head and let her tears flow onto the Gem in her hands. When the first drops hit it, the Gem glowed softly, the crack disappearing entirely, and shock ran through the observers. Turning to the closest Bismuth, Pink walked up to her and handed over her colleagues Gem. “Get her somewhere safe until she reforms.” She commanded, and the Bismuth practically leapt to obey, amazement on her face as she turned to leave.

Looking around, Pink noticed that every gem around her was staring at her, and she gave them a weak smile as she tried to think of what to say. “So… I can do that apparently.” She said, cringing internally at how awkward it sounded.  _ I can’t let them know I experimented with my powers on Earth, but that was one of the worst excuses I’ve ever used.  _ “Uhhhh, in light of recent events, I have a new decree that any cracked gems are to be poofed to prevent them from exacerbating the crack and then brought to me for healing. That is all, thank you.” She finished before leaping out of the pit to stand next to an awestruck 6C3. “So, let’s get on with the tour!” She said, fake cheer in her voice.

As the two of them walked away, Pink found her mind drifting back to Earth.  _ I left Bismuth behind. I bubbled her away and stuck her where only I could reach her, but if I go and let her out looking like this… I have to do it, but she’s not going to be happy about it.  _ Shaking away the intrusive thoughts, she strolled past the shocked workers at a faster than normal pace, hoping to avoid any further incidents.

Pink was able to explain away the healing as something she’d just figured out, and she encouraged the Rose Quartzes to investigate if they could do the same. The discovery that they could had been a relief to the whole court, although there were some whispers about “The Rebel” from other gems Pink made sure they kept quiet. 

  
  
  


A little over two weeks after the accident, she made a visit to the construction site of the Spire that would house her court, accompanied by some guards, 6C3, and Iolite. Because of resource shortages, the spire was not in the Sea like the one on Earth, so instead it was located high on a tall mountain peak, overlooking a fertile river valley to the west with the other peaks in the range in other directions. As the ship dropped them off, they passed a small flattened area where a pit was carved out for a warp pad and walked up a set of stairs to the construction site.

Iolite gave her a report on the colonization progress as they walked. “Construction is proceeding at a below-expected rate, and shortages of various gem types caused by losses on Earth have slowed many other construction projects, including the moon base and secondary research facilities. Without the construction of a Kindergarten to produce new gems, we will only remain on schedule for key infrastructure such as the Prime Research Center, and the Communications Hub, with all other construction sites falling behind.”

“Hmmm.” Pink nodded at her. “6C3, you used to work in logistics back on Earth, do you have any ideas for how we could make this go faster?”

“Well, the completion of the warp network will cut travel times for Gems and light equipment, and free up ships from having to ferry gems around, but that won’t change the fact that we only have so many construction gems.” Turning to her Diamond, she had a concerned look on her face. “If I may be so bold My Diamond, I believe that we should reduce the amount of Gems deployed on this project to finalize the research facilities, the sooner a way to produce Gems without interfering with organic life is found, the sooner we can begin to fill in the gaps in your court.”

Pink considered her words as they stopped in front of the Spire, but she had a suspicion there was more to her idea. “If we do that, how will my court administer the colony? Right now the various Gems running the administrative functions of this colony are scattered across more than a dozen ships in high orbit, and those ships can’t be used for moving material around or anything else as long as those gems are onboard.”

6C3 frowned at the question before answering. “Those are all good points my Diamond, and I understand the importance of gathering the administrative Gems together in one location, but I maintain my belief that these resources would be better spent on constructing research facilities.”

“Thank you for your honesty, but I believe I will need those ships free for moving materials soon.” Pink said. “I believe I need to discuss this with the overseer, see what she needs to get back on schedule.”

Finding the overseer was relatively easy, the Agate nearly ran over to greet her Diamond. As they discussed the issues with the construction progress, Pink realized just how short handed her court was.  _ A lot of the Gems who joined the Crystal Gems were lower class, like Bismuth, and with the war all resources were put into soldiers. Afterwards, no new gems were made at all since I was… not around. _

As the procession returned to the ship, Pink looked over the valley below them, the sight a welcome respite from the insides of the ship she had been living in for the last five weeks. “Iolite, 6C3, you two go on back to the ship, and if you have some free time, I would appreciate it if you could work on a solution to the Gem shortage here.” She told the two before sitting down on a ledge, looking out towards the setting sun and the colors of the sky. _I missed this._ _It’s not the beach by the temple, but it’s close enough for now, and one of these days I’ll be able to go back there and enjoy the real thing._

  
  


As their Diamond enjoyed the sunset, Iolite and 6C3 made their way back to the ship. Once onboard, Iolite turned to 6C3. “I have a thinking chamber for my own use over here, we can discuss our Diamonds task for us there.” She said, leading the way. Once inside, she pulled up the full roster of Gems and their deployments, and as the two of them worked she noticed 6C3 was constantly trying to find reasons that they could not redeploy Gems to support the construction efforts.

“6C3, why do you not want the Mountain Spire construction to be accelerated?” She asked bluntly.

The Fire Opal stared at Iolite, after centuries of wishing other gems would just ask her upfront instead of dancing around what they wanted from her the first time someone actually did it was a question she didn’t want to answer. “I just… I don’t think putting the Gems from the Sea Spire back in a Spire where they can plot and play stupid mind games all day is a good idea. I know that our Diamond needs them to keep the colony running, but there’s got to be a better way.”

Iolite rotated her chair to fully face the orange Gem. “I understand the distaste you feel for court politics, but you cannot let our emotions cloud your judgement. The Spire must be completed to free up ships to move heavy materials and equipment at other construction sites, and our Diamond has already begun working to prevent a repeat of the Lunar Sea Spire…”

“She sent her Spinel to make friends with them! I’m not trying to insult Spinel, she’s a wonderful gem, but there’s hundreds of stuck-up aristocrats in this court, she physically cannot befriend them all, not fast enough to actually stop them from causing problems with their schemes and power plays, and when that Spire is done, I’m going to be dealing with them again after millennia of being stuck far enough away from any power that no one bothered with playing politics, and it sucks and I hate it!” She yelled, anger and frustration that had been buried for thousands of years roaring back inside her.

Iolite gave her a thoughtful look before reaching out and grabbing her hand. “I understand your frustration with the court, I often found my trips to the Lunar Sea Spire on Earth unpleasant, and I only visited to report my findings or investigate one of their games that went to far.” She hesitated for a moment before continuing. “However, since the Spire needs to be completed, perhaps you could be assigned to a role that takes you outside the Spire while Spinel and our Diamond work to change the culture in the court.”

“Are… are you serious? What would I even do outside the Spire though? That’s where all the administrative work will be happening, that’s what Opals are made for!”

“I’m sure that our Diamond can find something for you to do, but only if you work with me and help me get the Spire back on schedule.” Iolite said, and 6C3 knew she had only one real choice.  


_ I cooperate and she helps me ask Pink Diamond for a job out away from the court politics, I don’t cooperate and she tells Pink Diamond that I was impeding a project she asked us to complete. I can’t believe I let myself get trapped like this, I let my emotions mess up my thinking.  _ “Alright, let’s get to work.” She said, and to her surprise Iolite actually thanked her, and there was no hint of the smug victory gloating that was nearly universal with the gems in the Spire when they won a mind game.

After a couple hours, they had come up with a plan to accelerate construction to nearly match the schedule, at the cost of pushing several projects even further behind. Walking down the hallways, the pair found Pink Diamond in her makeshift throne room and presented their plan to her.

“And in the end these redeployments will bring the Mountain Spire projected completion date to within one week of the original projection.” 6C3 finished, and Pink nodded as she reviewed the plan in front of her.  _ This is a decent plan, I should have those two work together on these things more often. _

“Additionally my Diamond, after working on this project with 6C3, I believe she would be more efficient working outside the Mountain Spire upon its completion, perhaps managing inventory at the Prime Research Facility or a similar task.” Iolite said.

Pink nodded at the statement.  _ From what I heard her say to Spinel, and the way she argued against moving resources to help build the Mountain Spire, I figured she didn’t want anything to do with the gems there anymore. Iolite probably pulled her super investigation skills and figured that out while they were working. _

“Well, in that case I’m sure we can find something for her to do. In fact, with how short of Gems my court is, I believe I have the perfect job for her. Right now I receive a constant stream of reports about issues with the colonization process, and I’m sure she could be of assistance resolving them. In fact, isn’t investigating problems with like that what you’ve been doing Iolite? You can show her how it’s done.” Pink said, a smile on her face.  _ And this way you can stop spending all your free time reading reports in your room and make a friend outside your caste. _

“My Diamond, are you sure that would be proper? I understand that the boundaries for intellectual work are less clear than they are for physical labor, but that seems incredibly close to having her work outside her purpose.” Iolite stated, and Pink was aware that the other gems nearby were watching her with focused eyes to see how this turned out.

“Well Iolite, those rules might work for the other Diamonds on their colonies, but this is a completely different situation with a different set of needs. Right now, we are incredibly short on Iolites, many were lost during the evacuation of Earth, what with them being deployed away from the warp network to investigate suspected rebel activity, so as your Diamond I am declaring that Opals and other promising administrative Gems are authorized to take the roles of Iolites and other Gems suffering similar shortages for the duration of this crisis.” Pink answered, putting on her best Diamond voice to make herself sound more confident than she actually was.

Iolite saluted and bowed to her. “As you command My Diamond, I will bring Fire Opal Cut 6C3 up to speed on these tasks as quickly as possible.” 6C3 belatedly joined her with a salute of her own, before they both turned and walked away.  _ Well, that went well.  _ Pink thought to herself.  _ Hopefully things like this will help me get rid of the lines between different Gem types in my court.  _ A Peridot told her that one of the ship captains was calling her, and the thoughts of how she would change the empire went to the back of her mind as she focused on yet another problem she needed to solve.

After weeks of putting out small fires and dealing with issues left and right, Pink Diamond received news from the Prime Research Facility on their work. Full of excitement, she rushed down to the facility with only a small guard to accompany her.  _ This is wonderful, I expected it to take years for them to figure out how to make Gems without damaging the world!  _ She thought as she arrived, meeting the Peridot in charge of the research project near one of the labs. As the green Gem talked, she realized her excitement had been a tad premature.

“And because of the revealed healing properties of the Rose Quartz Gems, we were able to gain a remarkable insight into the processes by which organic life functions, and with your permission we believe we are ready to commence trials with growing gems and observing their effects on the surrounding organic life to determine what exactly the cause of harm to organic life is.” The Period finished, looking at her expectantly.

Pink fought back her urge to sigh at the news.  _ Of course they aren’t actually ready to start mass-producing Gems yet, they haven’t even started!  _ “How were you planning to run these tests?” She asked.

“Well, first we will finish setting up the equipment in the testing areas, I have them marked on this map,” She pulled up a map of the surrounding area with seven red rectangles highlighted. “And then we will inject a single Gems worth of creation fluid in each of the trial areas and observe the effects. After those Gems emerge, we will not grow any more gems in the testing areas, monitoring the organic life for long-term effects, while moving the bulk of the sensors over to new testing areas, where we will begin implementing various plans for reducing the impact, such as having a Rose Quartz gem water the surrounding area with her tears or changing the fluid mixture for the creation of new Gems. There are other methods we are looking at, but until we get the information from the first test run we won’t know for certain what works and what doesn’t.”

Pink gave her permission for the tests to begin, and as she returned to the ship she went over how long it would likely take for those experiments to work.  _ Alright, even if they figure it out the first time, use the second to test it, and then go into mass production that’ll still take more than two production cycles, and that means it’ll be a long time before this works if it even can work. _

Returning to her makeshift throne, she immediately was confronted by an issue that had popped up during her visit, and as she dealt with it a realization hit her.  _ I’m going to be here for a long time. With all the work I have to do, I can’t just disappear like I used to, not if I want the Gems in my court to actually trust me and follow me when I make giant changes to how everything works, especially since going to Earth means leaving the planet entirely! And to make it worse I can’t just go back to Earth without making sure every Gem I bring can be trusted to know the truth about me, and right now that only includes Spinel…  
_

Sighing, she went back to work.  _ Hopefully once the setup is done things will quiet down like they did on Earth, then I can figure out how to justify heading over there with a small group of gems who I can trust to keep a secret…  _ As she continued to work, the seeds of a plan sprouted in her mind, and the hope that she would one day get to return to the planet she had spent thousands of years in love with returned to her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And we're back to the main story, sort of (everyone asking about the Cluster, rest assured that will be brought up next chapter), I had a bit of a low-energy week so I don't know if this is my best work, I only could get the energy to do a single read-through.
> 
> As always, let me know what you think about the chapter.


	14. Settling In Part 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Pink spends more time dealing with the boredom of running a colony, but one of her plans to avoid dealing with the other Diamonds will set off a chain of events that brings Earth back to her attention.

Pink Diamond sat on a throne at the top of the newly completed Mountain Spire. She had decided to combine the functions of a Spire, being an administrative hub, and the Moon Base, as her personal base to oversee the colonization. Doing so saved resources and allowed her to stay close to her court to give her a chance to push her views on them instead of trying to do so remotely. To that end, she had replaced the top of the Spire with a replica of the Moon Base, an entry level connected to the rest of the building, an observation platform, and a throne room topped in a glass dome. Looking out that glass dome, she saw the sun rising over the river valley below. As she took a few moments to admire the view, a light began blinking on her throne. Pressing a nearby button, a screen popped up with the image of the Agate running the Communication Hub construction site.  
  
“My Diamond, I regret to inform you that the recent redeployment of workers has left us behind schedule. Our timetable for communicating with Homeworld has been pushed back another two weeks.”  
  
Pink nodded, doing her best to not let her feelings show through to the surface. _Now if only the Diamond communication system relied on the Communication Hubs, then I would be able to avoid talking to Blue whenever she gets worried about me. _“Thank you for the update, I will take this knowledge into consideration.” She said, watching the figure bow before wincing to herself. _That could not have sounded faker. _Sighing, she slouched in her throne until a thought came to her. Pulling up her communication equipment, she made a dozen attempts to use the Diamond communication device, canceling it before a connection was made to the network each time. Switching off the device, she wrote up a request for a technician to take a look at it, and to add on to the amount of time she would have an excuse to not use the device she also threw a request for her court investigator to audit the logs “to ensure this malfunction was not used by seditious elements to gain access to the network,” and that the communicator remain offline until the audit was complete. It was obviously an unnecessary step, but a believable one from a Diamond that had been shattered by a rebel. As she sent the request, she felt a sense of calm. With the Communication Hub construction delayed and her private line to the Diamonds down for maintenance, she finally was beyond Blue and Yellows reach.  
  
Pulling up the list of reports on her personal workscreen, she read up on the progress at the Prime Research Center. _Let’s see, standard drain on the untouched areas, most experimental methods have no effect on life drain… except Rose Quartz tears on the soil during growth. _Staring at the report, the implications sank in. She had used her tears on the kindergarten on Earth several times, but only long after the gems made there had been completed. If Rose Quartz tears reduced the life drain of growing a gem, then maybe her mistake was waiting until after the gems were done growing and the kindergarten was dead! She quickly composed a message, commanding the researchers to run more experiments with the Rose Quartz tears. She then wrote a new message commanding over a hundred new Rose Quartzes to be deployed to provide their tears for further study. _Hopefully we can synthesize whatever is in their tears that reduces the drain, it would be horrible if we needed to have them constantly crying to make new Gems. _She shuddered at the thought, knowing that Blue and Yellow would easily order every Rose Quartz ever made to cry for eternity if it meant increasing the number of gems they could pull from a planet.  
  
Pulling up the next report, she found herself slipping into the busywork of running a colony, with few reports coming close to even being a fraction as important as the two she had just received, but she knew that if they were not addressed work on the parts of the colony she actually cared about would grind to a halt. As the sun rose overhead, she found herself fighting the urge to run off and find something more entertaining. Sighing, she leaned back in her throne, staring at the ceiling of her throne room, when she heard footsteps coming up from below.  
  
Turning towards the entrance where the stairs rose into her throne room, she saw Spinel enter with a forced smile on her face.  
  
“So, how’s it going up here My Diamond?” Spinel asked her through a clenched smile.  
  
Pink blinked in confusion before deciding that if Spinel wanted to tell her what was wrong, she would. “Boring, it seems like every time I finish dealing with one issue there are two more that I need to deal with. How about you, did you make any new friends?”  
  
Spinels eye twitched at the question. “I’ve made a bit of progress, but these Gems… it’s like they don’t care about anything but their own petty little power games, and the more I do to try and make them stop fighting each other the more they focus on fighting me.” Spinel leaned against the throne, putting her head in her hands as she slumped down onto the floor.  
  
Pink frowned, looking down at the small pink Gem. “They can’t all be that bad, you said you made some progress.”  
  
Spinel sighed, dramatically sprawling her arms and legs out over the floor with her shapeshifting. “Yeah, but it’s getting harder and harder to figure out who is actually trying to change and who is just saying what they think I want to hear. These Gems are at least a thousand years old, and they are fighting as hard as they can to avoid ever having to change their way of doing things.”  
  
Pink reached down and gave Spinel a pat on the back. “That does sound hard. I’m grateful that you are willing to do this for me Spinel, and I can go down their and help if it will make it easier for you…”  
  
“No, thank you for offering Pink, but you have to keep the whole colony running. I was literally made to be a ‘Best Friend’, if I can’t get a Spire full of nobles to be nice to each other, why am I even here?”  
  
“Spinel, having a hard time with one assignment doesn’t make you worthless, it makes you normal. It’s not like I’ve always done all my tasks perfectly.” Pink told her friend, trying to reassure the sad Gem.  
  
“Yeah, but it’s alright if a Diamond messes up, everyone just ignores it and pretends you meant for it to happen, or decides that someone gave you bad information or failed somehow. Meanwhile, when ‘normal’ Gems mess up we get shattered, or bubbled, or left on an empty garden in the middle of space for several thousand years!” Spinel cried, tears rolling down her face.  
  
Pink lifted herself from her throne and knelt down in front of Spinel, pulling the smaller gem into a hug. “Spinel, that won’t happen, alright? Even if we are separated, I won’t leave you alone, and I won’t tell you to stand still and wait for me. I’m so sorry that I did that to you, but I give you my word, as a Diamond and as a friend, that I won’t leave you alone like that, I won’t shatter you, or bubble you, or punish you in any way for not being perfect.”  
  
Spinel gave one last sob, her hands grabbing onto Pink as she pulled the Diamond in close. The two sat there together for a few minutes as Spinel cried out her anger and frustration until she was feeling better. Sitting together at the base of the throne, Pink and Spinel shared one last hug before they both stood up.  
  
“Thanks Pink, I needed that.”  
  
“Anytime Spinel, and if you ever need any help with your job just let me know, alright?” Pink asked as Spinel walked towards the exit.  
  
“... Yeah, I’ll tell you if I need any help Pink, but right now I feel like you have enough work to do yourself. If I really need help, I’ll ask, but you shouldn’t ignore your own work to help me out.” Spinel told her as she walked away.  
  
Pink could tell Spinel was just making excuses to not get her involved, but she decided not to push the issue. _I can’t force her to be honest with me. Well I could, but that would basically destroy our friendship. _She thought as she watched Spinel leave the room. Returning to her throne, she couldn’t help but think that neither of them was handling going back to work full time all that well.  
  
  
A few hours later, a Fire Opal and an Iolite returned to their workspace in the Spire after a long week of inspecting construction sites on their Diamonds orders. Fire Opal Facet 9 Cut 6C3 was excitedly carrying an entire conversation herself as the Iolite simply listened and nodded, a small smile on her face.  
  
“...and now that the ships are free for moving heavy materials we should be able to ramp up the equipment production levels soon, and with limb enhancers and construction tools we’ll be able to make up for the Bismuth shortage and get construction back on track and that will let us ramp up the amount of experiments running at once to get results for our Diamond faster…” She trailed off as she noticed the Iolite calmly sitting at her workstation watching her. “You already figured that out, didn’t you?”  
  
The Iolite gave her a small nod. “It’s good that you figured it out for yourself though, once I tell out Diamond that you are ready you’ll be performing inspections without me.”  
  
“And I can’t wait!” 6C3 answered, before realizing what she’d said. “Not that I don’t like working with you, it’s just I spent so long locked up in a Spire like this on Earth, hoping that I could go outside and be useful instead of sitting around indoors all day, and if our Diamond approves I’ll be constantly going out to tour the colony!”  
  
Iolite nodded at her. “I understand, with your enthusiasm for manual labor I am convinced you might have some Quartz mixed in with you.” As she said it, she watched 6C3 slouch down in response. _She doesn’t like talking about her origin, hopefully I didn’t go too far, she is a good colleague and I don’t want her to feel resentful towards me._  
  
“... I never did tell you how I was made, did I?” 6C3 asked her quietly. Iolite shook her head in response, and the orange Gem hang her head. “I actually was supposed to be a Quartz, but you read the reports of the Beta Kindergarten on Earth, it was a disaster. I’m just lucky that my Gem met the quality standards despite being the wrong type, the off-color prohibition was only relaxed for Quartzes and other combat Gems, if I’d come out wrong, or some sort of mismatch between Opal and Quartz, I would have been shattered. And a lot of the Gems at the Lunar Sea Spire used the way I was made as an insult, and I know you weren’t trying to hurt me, but…”  
  
“I understand, I will refrain from making such comments in the future.” Iolite told her, and at the small smile on 6C3’s face she felt relieved. _I am glad I did not offend her, it would have upset me if she had been unhappy. _She blinked at the thought, the idea that another Gems feelings could change her own feelings was not unheard of, she had served in Blue Diamonds court after the Pink Court’s disbandment after all, but this felt different. 6C3 spared her further introspection when she pulled up a list of tasks from their Diamond and the two began filing the paperwork for all their little field trips.  
  
Several hours later, at nearly midnight local time, 6C3 turned to Iolite to ask her a question. “Hey, Iolite, I found something weird.”  
  
“6C3 please be more specific when describing a problem.” Iolite responded as she turned to face the orange Gem.  
  
“Well, you know that request Pink made for us to audit the logs of her personal communicator device to make sure no rebels used it or something? I pulled the logs, and there’s a pair of uses from a few months ago, before our Diamond returned.”  
  
Iolite went very still. “What?”  
  
6C3 nodded at her. “It gets weirder. See, the call was made using Pinks ID, which is why it came up in the logs, but the physical device used was the device at her old Moon Base on Earth. Look, one call, very short, from Pink Diamond to Yellow Diamond, terminated by Pink Diamond, and then moments later a self-destruct command sent from Yellow Diamonds end. Which can only mean…”  
  
“A rebel on Earth got access to the Moon Base and activated the device.” Iolite answered, staring at the logs. “But my Diamond informed me that the other Diamonds wiped all Gem life from the planet in retaliation for Rose Quartz’s attack on her.”  
  
6C3 shrugged. “Maybe we should inform our Diamond of this?”  
  
Iolite nodded. “Yes, bring a copy of the logs, let’s go to the throne room.”  
  
“What, right now?”  
  
“This is a serious problem for our Diamonds long-term plans, she should hear about it immediately.” Iolite answered, already halfway out the door. 6C3 scrambled, pulling out a mobile workscreen and jogging to catch up to Iolites retreating form. As the two gems climbed the tower towards their Diamonds chambers, neither realized the importance of what they had discovered.  
  
  
Pink Diamond was still on her throne, she hadn’t moved since Spinel had left the day before, but after hearing the news Iolite and 6C3 had brought her, she really wanted to get out of the chair. As the two presented their findings, a pit had formed in her stomach. _Why would any of the Crystal Gems call Yellow Diamond? And why wouldn’t Yellow tell me about it? _A sinking feeling in her gut, she waited for Iolite to finish before pulling up the files on Earth. As dread filled her, she pulled up the classified files, the ones she had thought were nothing more than Yellows erroneous belief that their attack had wiped out every Gem on the surface of the Earth. As she read over the file, a name stuck out, The Cluster, and she found that it had its own file. As she read it, she felt herself grow numb. _Millions of shards… implanted within the crust of the Earth near the Prime Kindergarten… Expected time to mature… _When she read that last entry, she looked at the current date, and realization hit her. _The Cluster could emerge at anytime in the next 50 years. _Turning to her station, she manually re-activated the Diamond communication device, the fake problems forgotten as she filled with rage at her fellow Diamonds for creating such an abomination.  
  
As the device went to connect, she slowed herself down and thought. _Yellow knew, she expected you to know, and if you tell her you didn’t know then she will look down on you. She gave you enough equipment to handle it yourself, she gave you the information about it, you should cancel this call and go deal with it with the equipment she gave you, every minute wasted here is another minute it gets closer to destroying the Earth!_ Before she could end the call, Yellow Diamonds Pearl popped up on the screen.  
  
“My Diamond, Pink Diamond is calling you on the secure line.” Her voice called out. Pink bit her tongue to keep herself from exploding at Yellow when the camera turned and focused on her.  
  
“Pink, what a surprise, do you need anything?” Yellow asked her, and Pink barely kept herself in check before letting out a breath and answering.  
  
“Actually, I had an audit done of my call log to ensure no rebels used my ID to access the Diamond Communication Network, and I found a call dating from just before my ‘resurrection’ with my ID on it.”  
  
“Ah, yes that was the insolent little Peridot I sent to check on the status of The Cluster, she was rambling on about putting the planet to use instead of destroying it, and when I repeated her orders she called me a clod, so I detonated the device.”  
  
_So she wanted to save the Earth like I do and you tried to kill her for it, wonderful. _“I see, thank you Yellow, I will be making a visit to Earth to deal with The Cluster, and I’ll keep an eye out for any interference from her while I’m there.”  
  
“Very well Pink, if you need any additional equipment or Gems just let me know.” Yellow said, and after a few more exchanges of pleasantries the call was ended.  
  
Turning to the two Gems in front of her, Pink spoke to them in a low anger-filled voice. “Get the heavy mining equipment ready to pull that thing out of the Earth's crust, and get a hand ship ready to launch with me, you two, and my personal guards, we will fly ahead and survey the situation on Earth personally.”  
  
As the two Gems bowed and left the room, Pink turned back to the files on her screen, most importantly a screen capture of a video communication made by Peridot Facet-2F5L Cut-5XG while inspecting fusion experiments at the Prime Kindergarten. In it, she saw Garnet, Pearl, and Amethyst, all ready to fight, and the sight of them made her heart ache with nostalgia. But there, in the middle of the three taller figures, was a small human boy, and on his stomach was a bright pink Gem. _Steven… _She blinked tears from her eyes as she went to hurry the preparations. She was not going to lose her son before she ever got the chance to meet him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, a day later than planned, but I got the chapter done. If I'm being honest, the next few updates will probably make or break this fic for me, there's going to be a lot of character interaction and drama, and while I feel confident that I can pull it off, this is a pretty big confrontation that I've setup here.
> 
> As always, let me know what you think in the comments.


	15. Landfall Part 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Pink is on her way to Earth, but to keep her darkest secret from being revealed to her whole court, she needs to tell it to a few gems to try and enlist their help. Naturally, reactions vary

The chaos in Pink Diamonds court was palpable. When their Diamonds gave orders to prepare to pull The Cluster out of the Earth's crust, she destroyed a carefully crafted set of plans and timetables, disrupting the delicate systems of her court just as they had finally begun to reach a state that could be generously be considered “normal”. Pink knew this intellectually, but at the moment she was not in much of a mood to care. She was standing on the landing pad by the Mountain Spire when Spinel ran up to her.

“Pink, what’s going on? Why are we going to Earth? I thought we needed more time to prepare in case your secret got out.”

“Something more important came up.”

“More important…? Pink what happened?”

“I actually read the reports Yellow gave me about what they did to the Earth, and it turns out there’s a giant cluster of shattered Gems buried in the planet’s crust and when it emerges it will kill everything and _ everyone _on the planet.”

As the only Gem in her court who knew the whole story, Spinel realized immediately what the emphasis on “everyone” meant. “Well that’s not good. What are you going to do if the work crews run into… ‘surviving rebels’?” She asked, with enough emphasis that Pink could practically hear the quotation marks.

“I’ll try to keep the work crews from running into them, we don’t need any… complications right now.” Pink answered, looking back and forth at the Rose Quartzes of her personal guard nearby to make sure their conversation wasn’t being overheard. “But in case it is… I think I have to let a few others know the truth.” _ I need to get the Crystal Gems off Earth, and that means I need to at least let Sway know as commander of my personal guard, and Iolite will figure out something is wrong as soon as I order any rebels we find not be shattered… _

Her musings were interrupted when the ship she had requested landed nearby. She rushed forward, Spinel hot on her heels, and entered the ship, turning around and urging the rest of the Gems that would be coming to Earth to get on board as quickly as possible.

Once the ship took off, Pink knew she didn’t have much time before the ship reached Earth. When she had asked for a colony near Earth, the short travel time had been a blessing, but now it meant she needed to rush through what was likely going to be the second most important conversation of her day in order to get it done before they reached Earth.

Reaching one of the many small rooms scattered throughout the ship, she turned towards her guards. “You, go get your commander and bring her to this meeting room. You, go grab my Court Investigator, bring her here as well. The rest of you, guard the door, this is a private meeting.” She told them, before entering the room and sitting at the head of the table as Spinel took a position at her side.

Turning to face the smaller Gem, Pink took a moment to try and calm herself. _ It’s alright, I’m not alone here, Spinel has my back, she’s been making friends, she knows how to handle emotions. I just wish I had more time to get ready… _

The door opened as Sway, the Pink Lace Agate in charge of her personal guard, entered the room. Pink waved off the Agates initial salute, telling her to take a seat, when the door opened and Iolite entered, followed by Fire Opal 6C3. Pink frowned at the unexpected arrival, and Iolite knew immediately what the problem was.

“My Diamond, you requested your Court Investigator, and since you recently promoted her 6C3 is technically also a Court Investigator, at least according to the orders you signed.” The small purple Gem told her, her face neutral as the orange Gem behind her flushed with embarrassment.

Pink sighed, but resigned herself to the situation. _ Why not? It’s not like she can make anything worse, and she is technically a Court Investigator, so she would find out anyway. Why not just get it over with, hell why not just broadcast to the entire ship? _ She felt Spinels hand touch her, and took a moment to stabilize herself. _ Spinel thought she was trustworthy, and she hated court life too. Maybe she’ll understand why I did it. _

“Very well, all three of you please sit, we don’t have much time before we reach Earth and I have a lot to say. Before I begin, what you are going to hear is top secret, to the point where not even the other Diamonds know. If any of you harbor lingering loyalties for Blue or Yellow from your time in their courts, speak up now.” She looked around, no one said a word. _ Here goes nothing _ she thought as she pulled up an image of the Earth. “Very well, let’s begin. This is the true story of what I did on Earth and my death. It all started right before the first batch of Quartz soldiers were due to emerge from the ground. I wanted to tour the Kindergarten and greet them, but I knew Blue and Yellow wouldn’t approve. But then an idea came to me.” _ I can’t let anyone blame Pearl, I have to make them all think it was my idea. _“I disguised myself as a common Quartz soldier, rotating my Gem and shifting my form, and went to visit. During the tour, I greeted the first batch of Amethysts to come out of the ground, and then I toured the rest of my colony, still in a disguise.”

“After taking a day to view the surrounding organic life, I realized that the colony was slowly killing the planet it rested on, and I decided to do something about that. I asked Blue and Yellow to let me pause the colonization process, and they told me that I had to do it their way. They told me I was acting immature, that I needed to do things ‘properly’ or they would take away my colony.” Pink seethed as she remembered those meetings, Blue making her visit and beg on her knees for a chance while Yellow had only been marginally better, visiting in person and letting her stay in her throne as she completely dismissed everything Pink wanted to do. The other Gems in the room all looked nervous. Being around an angry Diamond is not a good idea for “lesser” Gems, even if their anger is directed at another. Also, aside from Spinel they were shocked to hear that their Diamond was treated with such disrespect by Blue and Yellow. _ The Diamonds always show a united front, but how much of that is really true? _Ran through three minds as they tried to comprehend the Diamonds treating one of their own like that.

Pink wasn’t paying attention, continuing her story. “So when White refused to even let me visit, I knew what I had to do. I had to make them listen to me, in a way they couldn’t just dismiss.” As she said that, she stood up from her seat. “I pulled out an old form, the same form I used to tour my colony privately, and attacked the machinery that was killing the planet.” Iolite went still, her face emotionless as she realized what was going on. Sway on the other hand was obviously in denial, trying to convince herself that she was hearing things wrong. 6C3, who didn’t know the story of the beginning of the rebellion, was just staring at her, confusion in her eyes as she tried to figure out what was going on.

“That form would go on to inspire other Gems to try and fight back, with my cover story of being a rebel against the Diamonds bringing recruits to my side by the hundred, starting with my own Pearl.” Pink said, and saw shock spread over 6C3’s face, as even she knew the story of the terrifying renegade Pearl. “But it wasn’t enough, Blue and Yellow refused to let me abandon the colony, even after centuries of doing my best to defeat every army sent to Earth. One day after I asked them again, Blue told me that as long as I was there to rule, the Gems of my court would fall in line and crush the rebellion. So I decided that I couldn’t continue to live a double life, and that Pink Diamond had to die, so one night she did, and for the next several thousand years I lived my life as the identity I had created to tour the Earth in peace, the leader of the Crystal Gems, The Rebel Rose Quartz.”

With those words, the room stood still. Not a single Gem moved or said a word, and the only sound was the background hum of the ships systems. After this silence dragged on for nearly a minute, Iolite gave a slow nod. “That explains the situation, although I have further questions…”

“HOW CAN YOU BE SO CALM ABOUT THIS?” Sway roared across the table. “We spent the last several thousand years suffering because of her, and you just want to ask questions?”

“We are not to question our Diamond.” Iolite answered, her normally calm demeanor hiding a sea of emotions.

“‘Our Diamond’ rebelled against herself and we all suffered for it, and if she doesn’t like it she can shatter me herself!”

“Sway, I’m not going to shatter anyone. Iolite, I actually agree with Sway, I did not expect you to be this calm…”

“Don’t agree with me!” Sway stood up, marching over to Pink and doing her best to be intimidating despite the massive height difference. “After everything you did, everything we suffered through, you don’t have any right to talk to me! I spent thousands of years living with the regret of that night and now you’re telling me you weren’t even shattered? That you got to spend the entire time I was being shuffled around backwater posts and treated like garbage living on Earth without a care in the world? No duties, no responsibilities, just you and your band of rebels lazing around for thousands of years while your court suffered?!” She was crying now, tears streaking down her face as she held back sobs. “We were your Gems! We were made for you, our entire existence was about serving you! We loved you, and you threw us away like waste.” She looked down, tears flowing freely as her emotional heat burned out, leaving her feeling numb as she stood still crying. Pink went to hug her, but she pushed away angrily, making to leave the room before Pink stopped her.

_ I know this isn’t a good time for us to be in a small room together, but I can’t let her just leave like this, not if there’s the risk she could tell someone. _Pink thought, making eye contact with the distressed Agate. Sway held the look for only a moment before breaking it off, stomping angrily back to her seat to try and get her emotions under control. At that, Pink turned to Iolite.

“Iolite, I know this is a lot to take in, but I need you to be honest with me about how you feel about everything I just said, I’ll answer any questions we have time for, but I don’t want you to just keep quiet because I’m your Diamond.” She said, hoping that would be enough to calm the rational Gem. When Iolite met her eyes, she realized it wouldn’t.

“Why?” Came her voice, low and soft. “Why do all of that for Earth? There had to have been a better way, something else that you could have done, why do all that?” She asked, her voice low.

“Because I was stupid.” Pink answered, thousands of years of regret coming to the surface. “I knew what I wanted to do, but not how to do it, so I messed up. A lot.”

“But what made the Earth worth doing that for? What made saving the Earth worth the shattering of thousands and the last five thousand years of resource shortages?”

“I didn’t want to cause all of that, I just wanted to run experiments with organic life and halt the colonization until they were done! I promise you that I never wanted anyone to get hurt… except for Blue Yellow and White.” Pink added hastily, no reason to be a liar now after all.

“But the Diamond Authority is the center of our species! We all exist because of them, our race cannot exist without the other three Diamonds, losing you was bad enough!”

“... I repeat, I was stupid. I just wanted to get away from the other Diamonds, in fact I wanted to stop being a Diamond entirely, and I did whatever I could think of to make that happen.”

“But…” Iolite let her voice trail off, sinking back down into her seat as she thought about her Diamonds words. The room was silent as Pink turned to the last Gem in it to ask her a question.

“6C3, what do you think of all this?”

The Fire Opal looked up at her and shook her head slowly. “I don’t know. Part of me is angry, because you spent all that time running around playing pretend instead of your job, and that let your court turn into a giant mess that I had to suffer through, and then there’s the way you being gone hurt the empire and gems like Sway… But at the same time, part of me wants to thank you.”

Every head in the room turned towards her with those words, but 6C3 continued. “If you had never lead the rebellion, I would never have been made, so in a way your mistake is the whole reason I’m standing you telling you how I feel about what you did, and it’s not easy to hate someone for giving you life.”

Pink nodded at her. “Thank you, for what it’s worth I’m glad my mistakes made things better for you and… a few other Gems.” She turned to face Sway, who had moved from keeping her tears under control to keeping the volume she cried at low. “Sway, I hope you understand that I never meant to hurt you, I just wanted to do the right thing and everything spiraled out of control. When we get done with our business on Earth, I’ll sit down and explain everything, answer every question, whatever you want from me, but until then I need you to do something.” Sway looked up, pain and anger in her eyes, and Pink scrambled to find an alternative. “It’s not just for me, it’s also for a group of Gems that I spent thousands of years lying to and then abandoned to try and get away from the consequences of what I’d done.”

Sway looked at her for a moment in confusion before Iolite spoke up. “The rebels, you want us to keep the remnants of the rebellion from being arrested while we deal with The Cluster.” She said without a hint of doubt. 

Pink nodded, and Sway looked at her with anger in her eyes before answering. “Fine, fine let’s just get this over with. After all, My Diamond wants something done, so my role is to do it.”

“Sway, that”

“Attention, arrival at Earth in two minutes!” The announcement came over the loudspeaker, and Pink bit her lip as she realized they’d talked away all their time. _ I don’t want you doing this because I ordered you to do it, I wanted you to understand why I did it, and ease you into it. I am sorry I had to spring this on you so early. _

“Alright, once this is done, we are all going to have a long talk about what this means and what I want to do, and right now I just want you all to know that I told you this because I trust you, and I hope you will understand why I did what I did in the future, but for right now we need to deal with The Cluster and the Crystal Gems.”

“How are we supposed to ‘deal with’ an army of rebels who aren’t going to be happy with us returning?” 6C3 asked.

“There won’t be an army, there’s only 4, they are based right next to one of the warp pads… here! Pink pointed Beach City out on a globe.”

“Only four? What happened?”

“The other Diamonds happened, they did… something, and now every Gem on Earth that was outside my protection is corrupted.”

“Corrupted?”

As Pink hurriedly explained what corrupting a Gem did to them, she breathed a sigh of relief internally. The initial crisis was done, and although it was likely that none of the Gems who she’d told would ever forgive her, at least they were willing to work with her for now.

  
  


When Pink Diamonds ship entered orbit around Earth, it was a little after midnight in the sleepy tourist town of Beach City. At the tip of the peninsula the town rested on, there was a massive moss-covered statue of a woman with multiple arms, the ancient rock contrasting with the modern beach house nestled in a pair of her hands. Inside this house, a young boy with a pink gem on his stomach named Steven Universe slept away the night. Normally, his powers did not react much (anymore) to the wanderings of his subconscious mind, almost as if they had grown used to the way their bearer occasionally lost consciousness and started telling them to do inane things like take over other humans bodies, but tonight someone else reached in. On her ship in orbit, Pink Diamond took a break from planning to look out a window, and as she closed her eyes her emotional powers slipped out. Normally, this wouldn’t be enough to do anything, with the distances involved and her lack of focus forging a connection would be impossible unless there was a Gem as powerful as a Diamond on the ground below.

Tonight, these two powers reached for each other, each one's bearer unaware of what was going on, forming a solid connection between them. With Steven unconscious, his power tried to alert his mind to the connection the simplest way possible, by showing him how it worked. Interrupting a nonsensical dream about a dog with helicopter wings and butt rockets, one Pink Diamond saw through the others eyes.

_ Whoa, I’m in space! _ Steven thought, staring out the window and watching the Earth below him. _ This is so cool, it’s like when Jasper and Peridot came except this time I’m not in mortal danger! _ His attention was drawn from the view when he saw a large pink gem reflected in the window. _ Whoa, why is she here? And how does she look like she’s about to cry and incredibly angry at the same time? _Before Steven could get any answers to his question, his vision shifted. Now he was looking at a conference room, like the ones on TV, except this one was full of gems! There was a short purple one, a short pink one, an orange one with a funny dress and hairstyle that looked like she had fire on her, and the angry/sad tall pink one. Before he could give them all funny names like he had for the Ruby Squad, his vision shifted down just enough to let him see his body. His pink body. His pink body with a large pink gem, right in the middle of his stomach.

Steven woke up with a panic. Staring around his room, he leaned back in his bed as his heart calmed down. _ It was just a dream. _ He thought, looking out the window into space, as if he could see a spaceship from where he was if he just looked hard enough. After a few minutes, he laid back down in bed. _ Just a dream. _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright, this is it, beginning of the end (of the first story in this series), and it's technically still Friday in my time zone and that's all that matters for a goal I set for myself.
> 
> Fun fact, it's been so long since I wrote "he" in this fic that when I was writing about Steven's dream I found myself writing "she" instead by accident.
> 
> As always, let me know what you think.


	16. Landfall Part 2

[Beach City, early morning]

Steven Universe found himself going over his dream in his head as he ate breakfast, wondering what it could mean. As he wrestled with this worry, he decided to try and draw out what he’d seen to make it easier to explain what he’d seen when the door into the temple opened up, a purple curve cutting it in two as Amethyst left her room.

“Hey Steven! What’cha drawing?” The small purple gem asked as she approached him, holding a Pringles can stuffed with a bunch of junk and dripping motor oil.

“Hey Amethyst, I had this weird dream and…” Steven noticed what Amethyst was holding. “... and you shouldn’t let that drip all over the floor! You know Pearl doesn’t like cleaning oil stains!”

“Yeah yeah, I’ll deal with it.” Amethyst replied before shoving the whole construct down her throat before letting out a loud belch. “Anyways, you were telling me about your drawing?”

“Heh, yeah I had this weird dream last night, I was on a ship looking down on Earth and there were a bunch of other gems with me, and when I looked down I had pink skin and a weird gem on my stomach, that’s this picture here, and I was hoping one of you guys could tell me what sort of gem it was.”

Amethyst looked at the picture, frowning as she realized she couldn’t recognize the gem Steven had drawn. “Yeah I got nothing, but you said you were like, 100% pink, right?”

“Yeah”

“And, you dreamed that you were looking at Earth from space? Haven’t you had dreams where you go into people’s heads and junk? What if you did it again, but this time instead of that Lars dude or those weird watermelon Stevens it's one of Pink Diamonds gems here to get revenge on Rose Quartz!” Amethyst leapt to her feet, pulling Steven with her as she ran to the temple door. “Come on, we have to tell Garnet and Pearl!”

“Pearl went on a mission, she left a note saying she’d be back in time to make dinner.” Steven told her.

“Fine, then we get Garnet and use her future vision to find Pearl, and then we make a plan.” Amethyst said, turning to the temple door and frowning. “Hey, you know how to get into The Burning Room without Garnet letting us in? If she’s in the temple she’ll be there.”

Steven paused for a moment to think before answering. “Oh! The temple has tubes between the rooms, and my room lets me get to them if I ask it, we can use that to get to Garnet’s room!” He said, focusing on his power as his gem glew and the pink gem on the top of the door lit up. The two made their way through the temple, desperate to find the unofficial leader of the Crystal Gems. When they made it to Garnet’s room, the permafusion was missing.

“Oh this isn’t good.” Steven said. “What if Garnet went to deal with a monster and the gem I saw is going to attack now that we’re all scattered!”

“Hey, calm down, we’ll be fine, let’s get back into your room and go over your dream, ok?” Amethyst said, trying to calm him down. “We’ll be fine, we made it through the last bunch of Homeworld gems trying to mess with us, we’ll make it through this one.” She said, obviously trying to convince herself as well as Steven.

As the two made their way out, Steven pulled up his phone as Amethyst sat down at the coffee table and went over the pictures. _ Ugh, I have no idea what I’m doing, Pearl would be able to figure out all of these gems in a few seconds, and then we’d be able to plan, but I have no idea what any of these… ok so that one’s an Agate, but I don’t know the rest… is that a non-fusion Opal? _

“Yeah, it might be a false alarm, but I’m really worried Connie!” She heard Steven say. Looking over, she realized he had called Connie while she had been looking at the drawings. As he finished up, he turned to her with a forced smile on his face.

“Alright, Connie is on her way so we’ll be able to use Stevonnie on these guys if they show up, now all we have to do is get Lapis and… Peridot....” He trailed off, looking through the windows as something passed between the rising sun and the beach house. Turning around, Amethyst saw a giant flying green hand with small figures dropping out of it hanging above the temple. _ We are so fucked. _Amethyst thought as she realized the figures were full-sized Quartz gems, each nearly as large as Jasper.

  
  


[Low Earth Orbit, an hour earlier]

“So, is everyone clear on the plan?” Pink Diamond asked the members of her inner circle. The gems sitting around the table all nodded, and she felt a sense of relief running through her. Revealing her secret this early had not gone over well, and only her ingrained loyalty to Pink as her Diamond had kept Sway from attacking her, but after a few hours of negotiating and talking, the commander of her personal guard had, provisionally, accepted Pinks explanations. Of course, she was going to ask for a whole lot more before she was truly happy with what was going on, but the fact that she hadn’t tried to attack Pink was a good sign that she could be brought around eventually.

“Yes my Diamond, I understand it. However, I need to brief the soldiers under my command, so if you’ll excuse me…” Sway stood and left without actually waiting for a response. As she walked out the door, she could hear Pink getting the other gems ready.

Walking down the hallway to where her command was waiting, Sway found herself going over the revelations of the last day. _ Pink Diamond is the rebel Rose Quartz. The rebellion was her way of trying to protect organic life. And then, while I was suffering, she spent thousands of years here on Earth surrounded by organic, and… _ She took a moment to calm herself, doing her best to suppress her anger. _ And she spent those thousands of years fighting the twisted monsters that used to be gems, corrupted by the other Diamonds, before giving up her own form to create a hybrid with a human. _

That revelation had been extremely contentious, with that one Fire Opal that had been brought in comparing the thing to cross-species fusion. By the time the arguing had died down, the ship had been hanging in orbit for three hours, but Pink had been convincing in her argument, and as the discussion had dragged on Sway had realized something about her Diamond. _ It’s like she was made to bring organic life and gems together, but there was no one around to explain her purpose to her so she had to discover it on her own, and her mistakes left her stranded on a planet where the only way to achieve her purpose was to die. _

Pink would have stridently argued against this interpretation of her actions, especially since it implied that she was still not free of the programming the other Diamonds had made her with, but for Sway it was the comforting lie she needed to truly “understand” her Diamond. The Gem empire instilled the idea that a gem fulfilling their purpose should not be judged by those of lesser rank to them in all its members, and right now Sway was slipping back into that old training, rationalizing Pink’s actions as her fulfilling her destiny without proper guidance in a desperate attempt to suppress the seething maelstrom of emotions that threatened to break through at any moment.

Reaching the center of the ship, she found the Quartz soldiers under her command waiting in the large observation room. As she entered, they fell silent, standing to attention under her gaze. Looking over the crowd, she could see the clear division between the Rose Quartz gems of her original command and the various Quartzes from the human zoo her Diamond had assigned to her. Looking at the variety of Amethysts, Jaspers, and even a diminutive Carnelian, she remembered that before they had been assigned to the zoo under the command of one of Blue Diamonds Agates, their original Agate had been lost in the evacuation of Earth. _ She’s likely in a bubble, waiting in storage for a cure for the corruption in the stronghold of her worst enemies. Hopefully I’ll be able to return her gems in decent condition. _

“Alright, here’s the game plan everyone!” She shouted out, projecting her voice so all of them could hear her. “Through a series of events that I will not be relaying, our Diamond learned that a geoweapon was buried in the Earth's crust, putting the planet at risk of destruction. She does not want this planet destroyed, so she came here to do reconnaissance of the planet in preparation for the drilling teams who will remove it. Now, we aren’t scouts, we have a different goal: Pink informed me that a handful of rebel gems survived the Diamonds attack on Earth that should have killed all the gems on the planet, and we are going to make sure they do not interfere with our Diamonds plans. Our orders are simple, find and subdue the rebels, then bring them onto the ship for our Diamond to deal with.”

She pulled up a small projector screen, showing a satellite image of Beach City and the surrounding countryside, with the Crystal Gems base marked in red. “This is their current base, it is located on the end of a penninsula with a human settlement between it and the mainland. This operation will be conducted in four stages. In the first stage, Platoon 1 Squad 1 and a group of technicians will be dropped off at the Galaxy Warp, not shown on this image, with equipment to gain physical control over the warp pad network and track any movements.” She pressed a button, highlighting the roads and paths out of Beach City into the nearby hills with purple while the town itself was covered in a low orange. “Then, the rest of Platoon 1 and all of Platoon 2 will secure entrances and exits from the town to prevent any interference from local humans. In stage three, Platoons 5 and 6 will take the town. All of you have thousands of years of experience with humans from the zoo, use it and keep the locals calm, they will have a history of interacting with the rebels and could cause problems if they see us fighting them.” She pressed one more button, putting an outline of the ship directly above the temple. “Finally, Platoon 4 will be under my command as we surround the temple. Our Diamond will enter the rebel base by herself, she was very specific about this and will not be argued with. Platoon 3 will remain in the ship, if any other group has issues Platoon 3 will be dropped to assist.”

It wasn’t the greatest plan, but it was the best Sway had come up with what she had available. Hopefully things wouldn’t go horribly wrong. Already there was an outcry as the gems in front of her realized that their Diamond was planning to enter a base full of rebels alone. Thankfully, Pink arrived in the chamber soon afterwards and started explaining that she wouldn’t be in any danger and telling them that she knew the rebels wouldn’t harm her without explaining how she knew. After a few moments, the ship shuddered as it entered the atmosphere, and the gems of Pink Diamonds personal guard moved out.

The drop off at the Galaxy Warp went smoothly, and as the ship turned and flew towards the objective Pink and Sway listened in as the technicians reported heir progress. Minutes before the final approach, they heard from the Peridot in charge that they could track all uses of the system, but were unable to lock out any warp pads without making substantial repairs to the degraded systems. Pink said that was enough, and the ship moved in, the Rose Quartzes of platoons 1 and 2 jumping from high up and steering themselves towards their objectives, while the Amethysts and off-colors of 5 and 6 were dropped off with a low pass that brought the ship to a near hover over the center of town, the gems inside jumping only 30 feet onto rooftops below before fanning out from their landing zone to patrol the town. Finally, the ship circled the hill the temple was built into, and Sway watched as her Diamond leapt down, aiming for the wooden deck in front of a strange human structure built into the gem temple.

Pink Diamond took a deep breath as she stood at the top of the steps, looking back over the ocean seeing the collection of pink gems forming up around the building. The smell of the ocean brought back memories of the years spent at this place, happy times spent pulling what enjoyment she could from the life around her as she struggled to control her guilt over her actions… _ Alright, that’s enough of that, _ she thought, cutting off her train of thought before it could get much worse. Full of determination, she turned and walked towards the door, covering the distance in only a few steps. _ Here goes nothing, _she thought, knocking on the door.

At first there was no response, and Pink was worried something had gone wrong. _ Did they move out after Yellows expedition found them? It did have this listed as their base of operations… _Before she could finish that thought, she heard movement and a familiar voice from inside.

“Steven, what are you doing!?” Amethysts voice asked just a moment before a small human boy with dark hair, a pink shirt with a yellow star on it leaving his stomach and the large pink gem on it uncovered walked up to the screen door and looked at her. Pink felt her eyes begin to water as she looked the small hybrid in the eyes for the first time.

“Hello Steven.” She said, a smile on her face. “May I come in?”

“Uhm…” Steven responded, looking up at her with confusion in his eyes. “If you’re here to take over the Earth or something, I’m going to have to ask you to leave.” He answered, putting on his best brave face as Pink felt her heart melt.

“Don’t worry, I’m actually here to help save you, and the Earth.” She told him. “It’s kind of important, can I come in to explain?”

“Wait, what!?” Amethyst shrieked. “You show up in a massive homeworld ship, surrounded by guards, and you say you’re here to save the Earth? Homeworld doesn’t do that, what’s your game?” She asked accusingly.

“Amethyst, be nice! She’s ready to talk about it, we don’t have to fight like we did with Jasper and the Rubies.” Steven answered, undoing the door and letting Pink in. 

Amethyst was obviously not very happy with the way she had been brushed off, and she pulled Steven close as Pink entered the house. “Dude, what the heck are you doing? It’s obviously some sort of trick!”

“But maybe it’s not a trick, maybe for once one of the gems that’s come to Earth is willing to just sit down and talk instead of turning everything into a big fight.” Steven answered, hope in his voice as he watched Pink, who was wondering if she should tell them she could hear everything they were saying.

The trio sat down at the small couch, and pink decided to focus on getting them to trust her. _ I can explain the rest when Garnet and Pearl get back _. “Alright, I know this sounds crazy, but I’m from homeworld and I’m here to help save this planet. Right now there is a massive collection of gem shards in the Earth’s crust, if it links up and creates a solid form it will then fight its way out of the planet, shattering the crust and killing all life on Earth. I have heavy equipment coming to help get rid of it but it might not be in time, so I need you and all the other Crystal Gems to come with me on my ship. There will be more ships coming for the humans and as much of the wildlife as we can load up, … what’s with that look?”

Steven and Amethyst were staring at her, and for a moment Pink thought she had messed something up, but then Steven spoke up. “We know about The Cluster, and we kind of sort of already took care of it when it started to emerge last summer.” He told her, not really looking at her. “Sorry you came all this way, but the Earth is safe, that’s good, right?” He asked, but he saw the look on her face and fell silent.

“Ok seriously, what is even going on on Homeworld?” Amethyst asked loudly. “First Yellow Diamond tries to blow Peridot sky-high for trying to save Earth from The Cluster, and now pinky here shows up trying to do the exact same thing, and offering to save us? I mean seriously… OW!” She was cut off when Steven elbowed her in the stomach, shaking his head and pointing silently at Pink, who was in the middle of a breakdown.

_ They already took care of it. The Earth was nearly destroyed and I was busy ignoring all the reports about it. I could have shown up to find a bunch of rocks and a geoweapon where Earth should have been, and it’s all my fault. If it wasn’t for dumb luck I would have failed, everyone would be dead, and the rebellion would have been just a massive waste of time that killed millions of gems. _She found herself staring off into the distance, with Amethyst and Steven watching her, until a bright light came up from the warp pad.

“...don’t understand why your future vision isn’t working, do you know what…” Pearl trailed off, staring at the large pink gem sitting on the couch next to Steven in shock. Steven got up quickly and put himself between Pink and Garnet and Pearl.

“It’s ok, she’s just here to talk, she doesn’t want to fight or anything!” He said, trying to reassure the two. Garnet took another moment to process what was going on before she responded.

“Steven, that’s Pink Diamond, there is no reason for her to be here that ends well for us.” The fusion said, staring down Pink. Steven and Amethysts cries of alarm were completely ignored by Pink, who found herself staring directly into Pearls eyes. Thousands of years of memories burst to the forefront of both gems minds, and to Pinks horror she saw Pearl holding her hands over her mouth, the pose she had held them in when she gave her last order as a Diamond.

The pain and suffering in Pearl’s eyes was too much for Pink to bear, and she felt tears coming to her own eyes even as Garnet moved to protect Pearl and Steven and Amethyst took up positions to her sides. Pink tore her gaze away from Pearl, looking Garnet in the eyes.

“I’m not here to fight you.” She said softly, doing her best to avoid the commanding tones of Pink Diamond in favor of the softer voice of Rose Quartz. The effect was immediate, and Garnet rocked back in surprise, staring at her in confusion. Steven and Amethyst were no better, hearing her voice had caused them both to lower their guards. Pink sighed, hunching over in shame, a pose that she was sure Blue would have called “unsuiting of your position.”

“I know it’s a lot to ask, but I need you to listen to me.” She told the Crystal Gems.

Garnet dismissed her weapons, but kept her fists clenched at her sides. “Start talking.” She said through gritted teeth, and Pink did.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi everyone! Two notes today.
> 
> One: I know I've been hinting in comments that this would be a bit more action packed of a reunion, but the image of Pink standing at the door and knocking came into my head and wouldn't let go, so I redid that whole chunk of the chapter. I feel like this chapter has some issues because of the rewrite, so if you see any issues let me know.
> 
> Two: Next week is Thanksgiving here in the USA, and I will be taking a week off. I'll be building up a backlog of chapters so I don't end up rewriting the day of anymore, but this is the last content I will post for two weeks.
> 
> As always, let me know what you thought about this chapter!


	17. Confrontation, Part 1

[Pink Diamond’s Perspective]

Pink Diamond surveyed the room in front of her. The Crystal Gems and Steven were gathered around the warp pad near the tunnel entrance, and all but Pearl had their weapons out, even though only Garnet and Amethyst truly looked ready for a fight.

“I can explain everything, but right now I need everyone to put their weapons away.” She told them.

“How about you stop hurting Pearl first, and then maybe we can talk!” Amethyst said accusingly, one hand gesturing to Pearl, who was currently holding her hands over her mouth as tears ran down her face.

“Amethyst, she didn’t do anything to Pearl, we would have seen it if she’d hurt her.” Steven said, looking over the pink shield that outright hurt Pink to look at, memories of her past coming back to haunt her.

Pink raised her hands to show that she wasn’t armed. “I didn’t hurt her today, but I am the reason she is hurting. She has a command from me that she does not want to obey, and I can undo it if you trust me.”

“Trust you!? You’re a Diamond! An undead, zombie Diamond here to destroy the Earth!” Amethyst yelled at her.

“Amethyst, she wanted to stop The Cluster”

“Yeah, so she could restart the Kindergarten and build an army to conquer more planets!”

“Enough!” Garnet interrupted the bickering, her gaze locked on Pink with a stare that was withering even with her glasses. “You will remove the command from Pearl, and then you will explain how and why you are here.” She said, clearly not happy about the situation.

Amethyst looked at her in shock. “Wait, you’re trusting her? Is your future vision broken? That’s Pink Diamond!” She said, gesturing wildly with her whip.

Garnet said nothing, simply staring down Pink, who nodded her agreement. “Pearl, as your Diamond, I hereby command you to stop following any order you do not wish to follow, including any that I have given or will give to you.” She said, the words she had spent hours stressing over finally undoing one of her worst mistakes.  _ I’m sorry I hurt you Pearl, but now no one can ever hurt you like that again, not even me… I hope. _

As her words reached Pearl, the pale gem stiffened before her whole body relaxed. Tears still flowing freely down her face, her hands gently fell to the side as she looked Pink in the eyes. “I missed you so much…” Pearl whispered.

Three things happened after she said that. First, Amethyst whirled on her, shock and horror on her face. Secondly, Garnet shifted her weight around so her right arm had a clear shot at Pearl while keeping Pink solidly in her view. And finally Steven, shocked and confused by this strange pink gem talking like his mom and the way Pearl was talking to her, had enough.

“Would someone just tell me what’s going on!?” He yelled, frustration in his voice. “What did you order Pearl to do, how does she know you?” His voice cracked, emotion running through it as tears filled his eyes. Pink and Pearl made eye contact, and in the span of a couple seconds held the sort of nonverbal conversation only possible between two people who knew each other for a very long time. Sighing, Pink hung her head, sat down, and began to explain.

“It all started back when I started the colony on Earth.” She began. “I was visiting the Prime Kindergarten when Pearl took me to see the rest of the planet, and I saw what was happening. I stood at the edge, and I saw the difference between the Earth as it was, full of life and beauty, and the Earth that would be if I didn’t stop the colony. I went to the other Diamonds and asked them to let me stop the colony, but they refused and told me to follow procedure…”

“Yeah right, you came down, saw a bunch of trees and birds and decided ‘hey, I don’t want to kill this planet anymore!’ You expect us to believe that?” Amethyst asked sarcastically. Pink nodded her head.

“I met a few humans too, but yes that is pretty much what happened.” Pink answered. Amethyst looked surprised by the answer, but before she could say anything Steven put his hand on her shoulder to calm her down and Pink continued. “After I failed to convince the other Diamonds, I decided that if they wouldn’t respect me as a Diamond, then maybe they would respect me as a rebel.”

With those words, her form began to glow. She lost height and gained width, trading her tall thin body for the shorter (but still taller than anyone else in the room) and thicker body of a Quartz soldier. To be specific, a Rose Quartz soldier. As she shrank, her gem rotated, the point sliding into her form until only the base was left pointing out. As the transformation finished, she opened her eyes and looked onto the shocked faces of the gems who had been her family for thousands of years.

“I’m sorry.” She said, her voice full of sorrow.

For several moments, no one spoke, everyone staring at her in silence until Garnet started physically shaking. “Rose… you” She split apart in a flash of light, a small blue form rushing forward.

“You lied to us!” Sapphire yelled, landing her flying punch directly on Pinks face. “All those years, we never looked into who you were because we trusted you!”

“Sapphire wait!” Ruby shouted.

“All those years… was any of it real? Did you ever tell us the truth?” Sapphire ignored Ruby, grabbing onto Pinks collar and screaming in her face. Pink gently raised her arms and forced her out of fist range, only for sapphire to start to freeze her arm. Dropping the small blue cyclops, Pink leaped up, shaking her arm to clear off the ice as Steven and Ruby rushed forward.

“Sapphire, it’s still Rose! She’s still the gem who told us that it was ok to be Garnet, that we didn’t have to unfuse.” Ruby said, trying to keep her lover calm.

“She told us to never question who we were, and we didn’t. We never questioned anything she told us!” Sapphire yelled.

“She fooled everyone, we couldn’t have known any better.”

“No, you couldn’t have known any better!” Sapphire snapped, whirling on Ruby. “You never know what’s going on, that’s what I’m for.”

Pink frowned, shocked at what she was hearing. “Sapphire, Ruby’s right, none of Homeworlds Sapphires ever figured me out either.”  _ Or if they did they kept their mouths shut. _

Sapphire fixed her glare on Pink. “You shut up.” She said, her voice cold with rage. “You played with us for thousands of years, and then you faked your death and left us so you could go back to being a Diamond.”

Pink jerked back as if hit, but before she could respond Sapphire turned and dashed onto the warp pad, disappearing in a flash of light. Pink heard the communicator tell her where Sapphire had gone and turned it off before turning to Ruby, who was kneeling on the ground crying. “I’m so sorry Ruby, she shouldn’t have hurt you because of what I did.”

The small red gem flinched at her words, looking at her with tear soaked eyes for a moment before hanging her head and continuing to cry. Pink had a sinking feeling in her gut as she comforted the small red gem. “It’s ok, she’s angry at me, not you. Once she calms down I can explain everything.”

Amethyst had the decency of allowing a solid thirty seconds of awkward crying to pass before she exploded. “Hey, so Rose, Pink, whatever, I’ve got a question: how are you alive? Sapphire had a point there, even though she was kind of a bi…”

“Amethyst, language!” Pearl snapped as Ruby sobbed even harder.

“It’s true isn’t it?” Amethyst responded, but as the two gems started to argue Pink’s thoughts wandered.  _ This is not how I intended for any of this to go, I need to go talk to Sapphire alone, but can I leave everyone else alone here while I do that? Pearl looks like she’s about to break down, and Amethyst is  _ gaze rested on Steven, who had lifted up his shirt and was staring at the gem on his stomach, tears flowing freely down his face. Pink moved forward, kneeling down and putting her hand on his shoulder, which caused him to jerk into motion, staring her in the eyes.

“Steven, I know this is a lot to take in right now, but I want you to know something.” She tapped his gem. “That gem, your gem, is the original Pink Diamond gem. Mine is a copy that a machine put me into after I gave up my form to have you.” In the background, she could hear Amethyst go “whaaaaaaaaaat?” which she tried to ignore as Steven mumbled to her. “I’m sorry, what was that?” She asked, leaning in closer to try and hear him better.

“Why did you leave them?” He asked, and Pink again felt like she had been assaulted by words. “Why did you have me? You left the gems, and dad, and everyone who cared about you behind, and then I had to deal with Jasper, and The Cluster, and all those corrupted gems and…” He trailed off as she sat there, stunned by his question, before a wave of resolve came over her. She reached forward, wrapping her arms around him in a large hug.

“You never should have had to deal with those things, I thought the Earth was calm enough for you to live a long happy life, without all my regrets weighing you down, but I was wrong, and you got hurt because of that. I promise, once I explain myself to Ruby and Sapphire, you will never have to handle my mistakes ever again.” She promised, praying to any deity that might be out there that she would be able to keep that promise.

Steven seemed shocked by this, and Amethyst looked like she was torn between joining in and attacking Pink. Meanwhile, Pearl was barely holding herself together off to the side. Pink took this in and stood up. “I should go talk to Ruby and Sapphire.” She said, standing up and walking towards the temple. Turning back, she gave the others a soft smile. “I’ll be right back, and then we can actually have a real reunion, one without screaming and yelling.”

Amethyst scoffed, muttering “yeah right, not after that bombshell.” Pink frowned and looked at Steven, realizing there was still one more person who should be here for the reunion.

“Steven, why don’t you go get Greg? I’ll tell the guards to let you through, and then I can explain this to both of you at once.” She asked, and Steven gave only a small nod before turning and heading out the door. Pink reached up and activated her communicator. “Sway, Ste… the hybrid is leaving the house to head into town. Let him and any other gem that comes out of the temple go, but keep them inside the town and under guard at all times, the initial contact went well enough that I believe you can stand your troops down from combat ready to standard guard protocols. I’m going into the temple to continue negotiations.”

“Acknowledged My Diamond.” Came the voice from the other end. Pink winced at the sound, realizing she still had to calm Sway down after the revelations earlier. She was going to ask Pearl if she wanted to come with, but she knew from long experience that the pale gem was barely holding it together, and she knew she was the cause. It would be better for everyone if she left them alone, then they would have time away from her to deal with these issues. Turning, she walked onto the warp pad and followed Sapphire to a place she knew quite well, a place she’d spent days at a time weeping over everything she’d done wrong and all the gems who would never get a chance to live a free life because of her mistake.

[Steven’s Perspective]

Steven didn’t know what to think. Mom was back, and she was a Diamond, and she’d forced Pearl to keep it a secret and Garnet unfused and…

“Hey Steven!” he heard Amethyst shout as she ran after him. “Wait up!”

When she caught up to him, she put her hand on his shoulder and leaned in close. “Hey, your mom went after Sapphire and Pearl and Ruby are sitting on the floor crying together and it was creeping me out, so I figured I’d come with you to tell Greg. You know, if that’s ok with you.” She said, eyes darting between the Rose Quartzes that were not even trying to be subtle as they followed them.

Steven narrowed his eyes, Amethyst was acting almost normal, and after what just happened… “Amethyst are you ok?” He asked, concern in his voice.

“Whaaa? Psshhh, yeah I’m ok!” She said, over-exaggerating as she waved off his question. “I mean she’s your mom and all, it’s not like I was around for the war or any of the bad stuff that happened.” She insisted, and Steven could tell that she desperately wanted that to be true.

“The big question is if you’re ok dude. Like I said, she’s your mom, and this is kind of heavy stuff, but you know Greg, we’ll just head over there, you’ll talk to him about whatever problem you have, and he’ll give us some advice to get over this whole freaky business.” Amethyst said as  _ It’s a Wash  _ came into view. Steven would have called her out on the “us” at the end of her last sentence, but she did have a point about his dad. Maybe talking to him could help Steven get his feelings under control, and then they could head back to the beach house and help everyone else out.

“Hey Greg!” Amethyst yelled as she ran up to the car wash. “You here man?”

“Amethyst, Steven, you’re both safe!” Greg shouted in surprise. “Quick, get in the van, the next patrol will be around any minute!” He gestured towards the van, which had been parked around back away from casual observers, and as the trio climbed in Steven spoke up.

“Dad, something big happened.”

“Yeah! Homeworld’s invading again, and this time you didn’t even get any warning like with Peridot! This is big, Vidalia says they locked down all the roads out of town, but I’ve got an old map of hiking trails around here, if the rest of the gems can make it here we can get you all out and then… I don’t know, call in the army or something.”

“Dad, we don’t need to call in the army, it’s not an invasion, it’s…”

Steven was interrupted by banging on the back of the van. “Hey, our Diamond told us to keep an eye on you, so open a window or something!”

Amethyst mouthed “be cool” at them and walked out the back. “Hey guys, don’t worry about the humans, I’m watching them, you can go do, uhhh, patrol, things.” She told a trio of Amethyst soldiers who were standing outside.

There was a beat of silence before they started laughing. “Patrol things?” One of them shouted as she nearly doubled over laughing.

Steven turned to Greg, trying to take advantage of the distraction. “Dad, there’s something really important you need to know!”

“What is it Steven?” Greg asked, eyes focused on the scene outside as Amethyst failed to convince the other Amethysts to leave and the other Amethysts laughed at her increasingly unlikely stories.

Steven looked at the gems outside and leaned in close. “Mom is alive.” He whispered.

Greg’s eyes went wide. “You’re sure?” He asked, hope in his voice.

“Yeah, but it’s kind of complicated.”

“Steven, when I dated your mom our whole relationship was complicated. Whatever it is, we can figure it out.” Greg said, tears in his eyes. “But if you’re sure it’s really her, then…”

“Come on dad, let’s go see mom.” Steven said, and the two Universe men left the van.

“Amethyst, are you coming?” Steven asked.

Amethyst kind of froze mid sentence, conflicted emotions running across her face before her carefree attitude slipped back on like a mask. “Nah dude, this is like, personal emotional gunk for you and Greg, I’ll stay out of your hair.”

Steven frowned. “Amethyst…”

Greg put his hand on his son's shoulder. “Steven, if Amethyst says she doesn’t want to get involved, you shouldn’t push her.”

“Yeah, you’re right.” Steven said, turning back towards the temple. “Let’s go see mom.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi everyone, I'm back.
> 
> Not much to say here, this one was a bit of a mess, so like always I'd love to hear what you think. Thanks for being such great readers!


	18. Confrontation, Part 2

[Rose’s Fountain, Pink Diamond’s Perspective]

The garden around The Fountain had seen better days. As Pink stepped off the warp pad, she felt her heart sink as she faced yet another memory of her past. However, it wasn’t the overgrown plants, the upset rocks, or the other dozen minor maintenance issues that drew her eyes, but the snow. Despite the season, the whole garden was covered in low snow clouds, centered on the fountain itself. Passing through the star-shaped entry hole, she saw Sapphire curled up and crying on the edge of the fountain, the surface frozen solid and the statue of her… of Rose Quartz, frozen solid.

She didn’t try to hide her approach, even if Sapphire didn’t know she was coming surprising her wouldn’t be the best way to handle this situation. As she got close to the fountain, Sapphire raised her head for a moment before looking away.

“Why are you here?” The small blue gem asked. “Haven’t you done enough?”

Pink sighed as she sat down nearby. “No,” she answered, causing Sapphire to look up at her in shock. “I’ve left a trail of broken gems behind me, and until I make up for what I did, it’ll never be enough.”

Sapphire seemed taken aback by that statement, but Pink wasn’t done. “I know I messed up Sapphire, I messed up more than you can imagine, but I’m trying to make it better. I don’t expect things to go back to how they were, I don’t even expect you to like me as a person, but I don’t want to be your enemy.”

Sapphire said nothing to her, drawing herself inward and suppressing her emotions as she stared at Pink. The two gems sat together in silence for a few moments until Sapphire growled in frustration.

“I can’t see what you’re going to do.” She admitted. “I just… Garnet is flexible enough to at least come up with something, but by myself I’m...” She stood up, doing her best to stare down Pink despite her diminutive size. “No, I’m not doing this, I’m not going to just pretend everything is normal. I’m going to go find Ruby, and we’re going to make Garnet again, and…” She trailed off as her movement halted, the brief flicker of total stillness that was the sign of a Sapphire looking into the future.

“Ruby… no, I didn’t mean…” her voice trailed off as tears came to her eyes.

Pink stood next to her, torn between wanting to comfort one of her oldest friends and the knowledge that Sapphire wanted nothing to do with her. “You hurt her, and now you’d give anything to undo it.” She said, causing Sapphire to whirl around at her, but her anger died on her lips as she saw the look on Pinks face. “Believe me, I understand more than anyone else what that feels like.”

“Don’t, just don’t try to compare us.” Sapphire told her. “I’m not happy with you, but right now I need to go find Ruby, I need to apologize to her.” She said, turning and dashing out of the fountain before Pink could respond.

_It won’t be that easy, it never is. _Pink thought as she turned to follow.

[Steven’s Perspective]

As the two Universe men walked down the boardwalk, neither of them was in a talkative mood. Both of them were still processing the revelation, and both were dreading the coming meeting, although for different reasons. Steven was afraid of a repeat of their earlier meeting, while Greg was faced with the woman he loved coming back from the dead. Thankfully, the awkward silence was interrupted by Stevens phone.

“Who… Connie! Connie something really big happened and…”

“Steven, I can’t get to Beach City.”

“What!? Why?”

“My mom drove me, but we ran into a roadblock run by gems that look like your mom! She won’t let me try to get in on foot, so now we’re at a pullout up in the hills and I’m watching the town with my binoculars.”

“Alright, I’ll see what I can do… Wait, can’t you ride in on Lion?” Steven asked.

“I don’t know if my mom will be very happy about that.” Connie whispered into the phone. “But if you send him here I’ll do it.”

“What? He’s not with me, I thought he was with you!”

“... Well that plan’s not going to work.” Connie sighed. “Listen, Steven, I want to help, but right now there’s no way my mom is going to let me go into Beach City, not if it means fighting an actual invading army!”

“They aren’t invading, I’ll explain everything in a while, but no one will be fighting anyone. And if you just wait a second I’ll see about getting you into town.”

“Steven, if there’s no fighting, then do you even need me? I’m not a negotiator like you are, I’m not sure how much use I’ll be here.”

Steven looked over at the beach, where a cluster of Rose Quartz gems were standing guard, and up at his dad who had frozen in place at the sight of them. “Connie, I could really use some support right now.”

“... Alright, I’ll try to convince my mom to wait here for a while, but she’s kind of freaking out about this.”

“Yeah, she’s not the only one.” Steven said, hanging up.

“Dad,” he shook Greg’s arm, snapping him out of his freakout. “Mom told you that Rose Quartzes are a type of gem, right?”

“Y...Yeah, it’s just, before today, I never really understood what that meant.” Greg said before holding Stevens hand. “But I’ll manage, let’s go see your mom!” He said, forcing a smile onto his face.

The two of them made their way down the beach, and outside of an incident where one Greg saw a Rose Quartz that looked like a pinker version of Steven’s mom and nearly freaked out they made it to the beach house without any problems. Walking in through the door, they saw Pearl cleaning the kitchen, her movements clean and methodical even as her eyes stared off into space.

The door slamming shut snapped her out of her trance. “Steven! ...Greg! You’re here, good. Pink just went with Sapphire to get Ruby out of her room, they’ll be back any minute now!” She said, fake cheer plastered all over her face.

“Who’s Pink?” Greg asked, and Pearl’s face fell as she turned to Steven.

“You didn’t… No, of course you didn’t, she should tell him herself.”

“Tell me what?” Greg asked, getting more frustrated by the minute.

“Mom will explain everything, but it’s a bit of a mess.” Steven said.

“Yes, it is.” Pearl agreed. The trio settled into an uncomfortable silence for several minutes before the temple door slid open, and the source of that awkwardness walked into the room.

“Ruby isn’t happy with Sapphire, I think they’ll get over it but I don’t know if we should expect Garnet anytime… soon…” She trailed off as she saw Greg and Steven standing in the room. For a moment, no one spoke, until finally Steven gave his dad a small nudge forward.

“Hey Rose, long time no see.” He said, and Pink felt tears fill her eyes as she rushed forward and swept him and Pearl up in a massive hug.

“I’m so sorry, if I’d known about The Cluster I would have dealt with it before I left you, and I should have told everyone everything, and I hurt you all so much!” She cried, pulling them tight.

“Rose… need… air.” Greg got out through the immense pressure on his body. Immediately she let go of him, and as he staggered she gently gripped his hand.

“I’m sorry, I wasn’t thinking! Are you hurt? I’ll heal you just in case.” She said before leaning down, pressing her lips to his forehead as her tears flowed freely onto his scalp, filling his whole body with a light pink glow for a moment before it subsided.

As she pulled back, Steven caught her eyes and gave a “go on” gesture with his hands. _He’s right, this needs to be dealt with as quickly as possible._

“Greg, there’s something I need to tell you.” She said, holding his hands and kneeling down to be on eye level with him. “I’m not actually a Rose Quartz.”

“What?”

“Well, you remember how I explained that there are different types of gem, and Rose Quartz is just one type?”

“Even if I didn't I would have figured it out from the beach full of gems who look like you outside." Greg answered. "But what type of gem are you then?”

She sighed, bracing herself for the reveal. “Pink Diamond. I’m a Pink Diamond, and technically I’m only the second one ever.” She said, and to emphasize her point she shifted her form, returning to her new “default”.

“... Wow, I mean I figured the Diamonds were a big deal, but only two ever?”

“Yes, and I didn’t want to be a big deal. I was in charge of the Homeworld gems when they came to Earth the first time to colonize it, but when I went to tour Earth I realized what was going to be lost, and I tried to stop it peacefully. Then the other Diamonds refused to let me cancel the colony, so I disguised myself as a Rose Quartz to fight them.” _After making them off of an Amethyst template with some of my own powers mixed in. _“Which is how I’m here now. The other Diamonds made some… modifications to my gem, so when I… gave up my gem to Steven, a copy of my memories was put in a copy of my gem, and there I was. A copy of a dead Diamond, stuck with all of her memories and regrets.” She hung her head, not even willing to look Greg in the eyes.

After a few moments of silence, she was stunned when Greg kneeled down to look her in the eyes again. “Rose…” He started.

“Please don’t call me that, if the gems I brought with me hear you call me Rose they might figure out that we’re the same gem. Call me Pink Diamond.”

Greg blinked as he processed her request. “Fine… Pink. I’m not going to lie to you, this is some really heavy stuff and I’m not sure how qualified I am for it, but I want you to know that no matter what name you call yourself, you’re still the same woman I fell in love with all those years ago.”

“But I’m not, I’m just a copy of her memories in a copy of her gem, I’m not her.”

“R… Pink, you wouldn’t be here if you actually believed that. If you actually thought you weren’t the same person, you wouldn’t have hugged me like that, or given me a kiss when you healed me.” 

Not for the first time, Pink was impressed by how easily Greg could make everything she worried about seem less important, and he took her silence as a sign to continue.

“Now, I’m feeling a lot of things right now, I’m going to need to take a minute in the bathroom to calm down, and we need to sit down and have a talk without anyone listening in.” He glanced meaningfully at Steven, who looked indignant. “Sorry Schtu-Ball, I know you like to get involved in stuff like this, but me and your mom are going to need some privacy for this, alright?”

Steven nodded, and Greg turned back to Pink. "My point is, I’m happy you’re back, I really am, but this is a lot to take in. I’ll be back in a few minutes.” He said, standing up and entering the bathroom.

Steven gave her a reassuring smile. “Don’t worry, he did the same thing when Jasper and Peridot nearly abducted me.”

Pink blinked and stared at him. “They what?”

“Oh, yeah I guess you wouldn’t know. Don’t be mad at Peridot, she’s gotten a lot better since then! She’s living out with Lapis at a barn in the countryside!”

“Oh… alright. But what about this Jasper? What happened to her?”

“She… she kept calling me Rose and trying to fight me, and then when we kept beating her she tried to fuse with a corrupted gem.” Steven admitted, tears in his eyes. “I tried to help her, but she refused because she thought I was you and she hated you for shattering Pink Diamond, but you are Pink Diamond so she spent thousands of years hating you for no good reason and...!”

“Steven.” Pink grabbed his shoulders and looked him in the eye. “I’m sorry. I never wanted you to deal with my mistakes, and if the other Diamonds hadn’t built that machine you would have spent years trying to clean up my messes. But right now, those aren’t your problem anymore, alright? From now on, I’ll handle my mistakes myself.”

Steven looked at her through tear soaked eyes, and after a brief moment of hesitation grabbed her for a hug. As the two embraced, she heard him whisper to her. “You’re really back, you’re really here.”

Smiling, she pulled him in tight. In a few minutes she would have to check in with her personal guard, and then she would have to stand down all the gems who came rushing over to Earth to help extract The Cluster, and figure out a cover story for what happened here, but right now, she was enjoying her first hug with her son.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Not much to say about this one, didn't have any major drama writing it, didn't have to rewrite everything, it was a pretty simple chapter. Of course that could be a sign I missed something big, so if I did give me a heads up.


	19. Confrontation, Part 3

[Beach House, Pink Diamonds Perspective]

Pink had wanted nothing more than to stay in the house for hours and talk to her friends and family, but like always, her dreams ran into reality. First, even though everyone (except Sapphire and Ruby) was outwardly happy that she was back, she could tell that there were a lot of feelings under the happy masks, and there was the minor issue of the horde of gems that she had brought with her. Before she could deal with that though, she had to ask the people she’d betrayed and abandoned to lie for her.

“So, I can’t let anyone know you’re my mom?” Steven asked as she finished explaining.

“Yes, as far as anyone outside this room is concerned, your gem is a Rose Quartz gem and I’m only interested in you because you’re a hybrid. I know it’s not the best solution, and I’m sorry that we can’t be family in public, but I have to keep the rest of Homeworld from finding out about you.”

Steven blinked, confusion on his face. “But… if they have proof that organics and gems can live together, then won’t that get them to stop killing planets?” 

_Maybe, but even if they do, everything else about Homeworld will still be there, and with an infinite supply of new hybrids… _Pink shuddered at the thought. She knew that the same would occur if her experiments with growing new gems without killing a planet worked out, and she understood that the only way her dreams could become reality was if the other Diamonds were no longer in a position to abuse what she planned to make, but that was an issue for the future.

“Well Steven, as long as you’re ‘only’ a Rose Quartz/Human hybrid, the other Diamonds won’t care that much about you, but if they found out you’re actually another Diamond… if White found out she…” All of her warnings caught in her throat as the image of Steven bleached white from head to toe, posing with his arms stretched wide and mocking her in Whites voice. “They can’t learn the truth” she forced through her tears as she pulled him in and held him with both arms.

“I understand.” He said.

“Thank you.” She kissed the top of his head and pushed him back. “I know this is a lot, but I’ll do my best to not interfere with you. I’ve already got a few ideas for how I’ll be able to pardon the Crystal Gems for the rebellion, and while it would look bad if I left you on Earth and didn’t even leave some researchers behind I’ll make sure they don’t interfere with your life to much and if any of them cause problems I’ll leave a way for you to call me, and I’ll visit whenever I can, and…”

“Rose, Rose it’s ok, we still have time to plan, you aren’t leaving for a while, we don’t have to have a plan right now.” Greg was there, holding her shoulder and trying to calm her down.

“That’s right.” Came Pearls voice from her other shoulder. “We still have plenty of time to figure out how to keep the other Diamonds from getting involved, right now we should focus on the horde of Quartzes occupying Beach City. Once that’s dealt with, then we can have a proper planning session.”

Pink blinked, tears in her eyes, as she felt her two closest companions reassure her. After a few moments, she nodded and stood up. “You’re right, you’re right. I just… got a little carried away. It’s been a pretty rough few months. I’ll go tell the gems I brought with me to stand down, everyone just stay here until I get back, alright? Right now they still think of you as rebels, and I need to think of an excuse to get them to leave you alone.”

With a wave of acknowledgements, Pink turned and walked towards the exit. Stepping out onto the balcony, she first called up her court investigator.

“Good news Iolite, The Cluster has been dealt with.”

“...”

“Iolite, are you there?”

“My apologies My Diamond, I just… the rebels neutralized The Cluster themselves? I was unaware that heavy mining equipment was abandoned on Earth.”

“Yes, they did, and they actually used some drills scavenged from the old kindergarten.” Pink could nearly hear Iolites jaw hitting the floor. _She’s a smart gem, but a bit to by-the-book for something like that to occur to her._ “Anyways, apparently The Cluster is smart enough to communicate and understand that forming would destroy the Earth, and since it was mainly made of former Crystal Gems that’s how they dealt with it.” 

“My apologies My Diamond, but this whole situation seems… bizarre.”

“Don’t apologize, I’ll never punish you for asking questions.” Pink replied.

“... Yes My Diamond.” Iolite responded. “Shall I call off the excavation teams? There is always the risk that extracting The Cluster could cause more damage to the planet than leaving it inside.”

“Well, we don’t know what will cause the most damage, so I want you and Fire Opal 6C3 to come down here and examine The Cluster so we know what to do.”

“You want us to work with the rebels.” She said, her voice flat. “Is that wise? I was under the impression that all except your Pearl were unaware of the truth behind the rebellion and would not take the revelation well.”

Pink frowned. _I already explained that they are willing to do just about anything to defend the Earth, why is she surprised by this? Is she just making sure or is she trying to subtly ask if my friends hate me… _Pink shook her head. _Calm down, there’s no way she actually cares about my relationship with the Crystal Gems, not after what I told her. She just wants to make sure they won’t attack her._

“You’ll be fine Iolite, they know that I don’t want to draw attention to Earth, but if they cause trouble I will have to.” Pink answered. “Moving on, there is the issue of the reporting. As far as any of your reports go, Steven is a Human-Rose Quartz hybrid, any gems from my court that are deployed here are monitoring his development for more insights into how biological and gem life interact, and the Rebel group we found was not shattered because they have information on his development and the human race that I deemed vital for my research. They have been given a reduced sentence of imprisonment on Earth until such time as I believe they have repaid my court for the damage they caused it.” 

“Of course My Diamond, I will ensure that my reports and 6C3’s are written with those details in mind. Is that all?”

“Yes, once you are ready, come down here and I will ask them to help you with the analysis of The Cluster.” Pink answered, and after hearing an acknowledgement she ended the call and looked out over the beach, taking in the cluster of Rose Quartz gems and the hovering hand ship.

Pink knew that the other Diamonds would not be happy with the cover story she’d come up with, but compared to the truth it was the least bad of a series of terrible cover stories. Of course, to keep the lie alive she needed to keep guard gems here to monitor the “prisoners” and researchers to learn about the biological life of this world. Thankfully, she just so happened to have some gems in her court that were familiar with humans who could be trusted to not cause problems. 

Sighing, she walked down the stairs to the beach, approaching Pink Lace Agate Facet 5 Cut 7XA, the current commander of her guard. After a few moments, the pink gem stood before her, posture straight, all the minor signs of trust and familiarity that she had started showing ever since Pink reunited her with her original command gone, replaced with a wall of formality.

“My Diamond, what are your orders?” She asked, her salute perfect and her face blank as Pink sighed internally. _I need to talk to her privately soon, she’s hurting because of me and I have to help her._

“Well, I have decided that we will be establishing a small outpost on Earth to monitor the situation with The Cluster and the hybrid.” Pink answered, conscious of the Rose Quartzes nearby who could overhear her. “I was considering using the soldiers from the zoo that were attached to your command for that duty, do you believe they can handle detached duty?”

“They are undisciplined, if there is any threat they will respond as individuals or small groups with no overarching strategy.” Came the blunt response. “However, they have extensive knowledge of the human race that could increase the odds of success in an environment where threats are not common. I would note that doctrine frowns on deploying Quartzes to remote locations without a commander, but given recent events I doubt you would find that argument compelling.”

_Well, cold professionalism and some minor backtalk is an improvement from screaming and crying I guess. _Pink thought as she gave the smaller gem a small nod. “Unfortunately my court has a severe shortage of Agates right now, so doctrine must be flexible.” She responded. “Please gather the former zoo gems and organize a chain of command for this outpost, and back all your troops that aren’t guarding the temple back to the ship, we really should stop interfering with these humans lives.”

Pink could tell that the other gem did not share her concern for the humans of Earth, but she obeyed. Thankfully, from what she could tell from a few interviews and reviewing incident reports the gems from the zoo seemed to have a basic respect for humans, so an outpost staffed by them would be unlikely to cause any major issues. Of course, when the Agate began giving orders for the gems to assemble on the beach one of the squads sent back a simple “currently engaged” message. Getting the squad leader on the communicator did not clear things up much.

“7XK, please explain your situation.”

“Alright… so one of the humans was freaking out about how the Diamonds are here to conquer the planet, and he grabbed some weird sword and some other humans held him back and now there’s a crowd of them. 7XJ and L tried to calm them down, but they only really listened to 7XM.”

Sway frowned at that. “7XM is not assigned to your squad! What is she doing away from her unit?”

“Well, she doesn’t really have one.”

“How did an Amethyst without a unit get onto Earth?”

“She was here when we got here ma’am.”

Pink froze at that, realizing who they were talking about. _What did you do Amethyst? _She thought. She panicked and leaned over to speak into the microphone.

“Rose Quartz found an Amethyst who was still in the ground when the war ended and took her in, that might be her. I’ll go handle the situation.” Pink saw Sway’s eyes widen slightly as she made the connection, and the Agate nodded in acknowledgement before turning to carry out her other orders.

Walking down the beach to the boardwalk, Pink saw the row of shops. Painful memories of lazy summer days lounging on the beach with Greg forced their way to the surface, but the cluster of humans and gems in front of one of the stores brought her back before she could slip to deeply into her memories. As she approached, the crowd parted before her, the humans seeing her as Pink Diamond, not Rose Quartz. _Because Rose Quartz is gone, and she’ll never be able to come back, not while The Diamonds rule Homeworld._

Amethyst, or 8XM now that there were other Amethysts present, was doing a surprisingly decent job of keeping the situation calm, but as Pink walked through the crowd a strange young human with brown skin and yellow, fry-shaped hair started screaming.

“It’s one of the Diamonds! They’re here to conquer the Earth and turn humanity into a race of immortal rock hybrid warrior slaves!”

Pink stopped flat at his words. _If they thought hybrids could be more useful than normal gems the other Diamonds wouldn’t even hesitate, but how could he possibly know that?_

“No, I’m not interested in that.” She said. “I have no plans to conquer anything, I’m just here to fix some old mistakes, this has nothing to do with any of you.” She reassured the humans before turning to the knot of Amethysts. 

“You four on the other hand…” She trailed off as she saw the three Amethysts of her guard close ranks behind 8XM, the scrappy runt that they had never met before that day. “8XM, good to see you again.” She said, hoping Amethyst wouldn’t reveal her secret.

“... Yeah, sure thing ‘My Diamond’.” The short gem mouthed off to her before turning to the other Amethysts. “Have fun getting bossed around, I’ll be back at the temple if you feel like ditching her and staying on Earth.”

The other Amethysts braced themselves for the worst. 8XM was technically off-color, and she’d mouthed off to a Diamond, many gems had been shattered for less. Needless to say, when Pink simply shook her head and chuckled they were stunned.

“If you want my soldiers to join your cause you will have to try harder than that 8XM.” She said, forcing herself to keep up a calm exterior despite her worries. _Amethyst, now is not the time for this, most of my court hates you for being associated with Rose Quartz, and even the ones who know the truth would still try to punish you for that._

Thankfully no one was really in the mood for a fight right then, so Amethyst just scoffed and walked away, muttering. Pink turned to the crowd of humans who had just witnessed the spectacle, and with a skinking feeling she realized that was the easy part. In all her years in Beach City, she’d only tangentally gotten to know many of the residents, but even that was enough to slip her up if she wasn’t careful. If humans started asking how she knew them, worse if the Amethysts started asking how she knew about individual humans... 

Pink pushed those thoughts out of her mind and put on her best “Diamond Face”.

“Attention humans…” _I sound like an invader from those cheesy movies Greg liked. _“... I am not here to conquer you, or kill you, or do anything else to harm you. I apologize for how our actions may have impacted your lives, but unless you attempt to assault myself or a member of my court we will not interfere with you any longer. Now, these Amethysts here have an important meeting with their commanding officer and I have business to attend to, so goodbye to you all.” _Nailed it _Pink thought as the Amethysts turned and walked away while the humans began to disperse. _Considering the only references I had were alien invasion movies and Passions of Xanxor I’d say that was a pretty decent first-contact speech._

As she turned to walk away, she noticed one human watching her out of the corner of her eyes. The blond woman, who Pink was pretty sure had been one of Greg's friends who Amethyst had started hanging out with, was giving her an inquisitive look. _Did… did she recognize my voice? _She knew she couldn’t exactly tell the woman the truth, but it reminded her how dangerous being around people, gem or human, who knew her as Rose Quartz, even tangentially, was for her cover.

The sound of car brakes slamming drew her attention, and as Pink turned she saw a dark-skinned human woman staring at her, fear in her eyes, but also determination. Pink stepped back, ready for the woman to drive forward and try to run her over, but the more she thought about it the more that didn’t make sense. If the woman had wanted to hurt her, ramming her with the car would have been the best option, so what…

The side door opened, and a human girl stepped out of the back seat, dressed in an outfit that vaguely resembled some of the uniforms Quartzes wore, and carrying a bag nearly as large as she was. Something about the bag drew Pinks attention, and as she looked closer she realized what. Sticking out of the bag was a pink pommel, engraved with a rose vine pattern. As the two talked, Pink heard the girl mention Steven, and based on the tone she realized who this was. Stepping forward, she prepared to meet her son's girlfriend.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes, I know at this point Connie and Steven haven't even gotten to kissing, but Pink has a very skewed perception of human relationships, and Connie showing up with Rose Quartzes sword and worrying about Steven reminds her of Pearl, so that's where her mind jumped to first.
> 
> It's a bit of a cliffhanger, and I'm sorry for that, but I'll try to get back on my normal schedule in January once the holiday craziness is over. Expect the next update either the 3rd or the 4th.
> 
> As always, let me know if you think anything could have been better, if no one says anything I'll never learn.
> 
> Also, this fic has a TvTropes page now! Thanks to everyone who contributed.  
https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Fanfic/AwakeningStevenUniverse


	20. Confrontation Part 4

[Beach House, Steven’s POV]

Steven was very conflicted about his day. On one hand, his mom was back! On the other, she had secretly been a Diamond who took on a fake name and faked her own death. The Crystal Gems were all pretty upset about the whole thing, Pearl was cleaning, Sapphire was in the temple, and Ruby…

“It’s just, I spent thousands of years as Garnet with her, so I know she loves me, but that doesn’t mean she wasn't telling the truth when she said those things. I mean, she could have just been hiding how she feels, like how Pearl hid the truth from us everytime we fused.”

Ruby was talking with Greg about some recent revelations. Steven had tried to get involved, but after he had a freakout about potentially never seeing Garnet again his dad had sent him “upstairs” to his bed to keep an eye out for mom coming back. A few minutes later Amethyst had come back, and the Agate that was bossing the other pink gems around got between her and the beach house and yelled at her for a few moments before she used one of those gestures Greg said Steven couldn’t use until he was an adult, shapeshifted into a bird, and flew onto the balcony.

When she came in, she took one look at Pearl nervous-cleaning the kitchen, Greg and Ruby sitting on the couch talking about feelings, and Steven on his bed, marched up the stairs, and sprawled out on the bed.

“Ugghhhh why is Homeworld so horrible? I met up with some other Amethysts, ‘Pink’ comes in and starts bossing them around, and when I give her some basic back-talk all of them act like I’m about to get shattered right there, and then her little boss gem starts trying to order me around, acting like she’s the boss of me just because she’s an Agate!” The short purple gem fumed.

“Well, did mom get upset when you talked-back to her or…?”   


“Eh, she tried to laugh it off, but she was really uncomfortable about it. Like, I said worse stuff all the time before she left, and now it’s a problem? Homeworld’s influencing her man, she’s not as bad as some of them but she’s not as chill as she used to be.”

“Well, that’s because she didn’t have anyone but Homeworld gems to talk to, and now she has us! We can make sure she doesn’t get influenced.” Steven said optimistically. Amethyst looked at him, trying to figure out how to tell him it would probably be more complicated than that, when his phone buzzed with a text from Connie.

“Pink Diamond on boardwalk talking to my mom, says I should hide the sword. Can I trust her?” The text read. Steven quickly typed out a reply. “Yeah, that’s actually a good idea. Explain more when you get here!”

“Alright, Mom ran into Connie and her mom on the boardwalk, and they’ll be coming by soon. Is everyone… you know… ready?” He asked, looking out at his family as they tried to deal with their emotions.

Pearl nodded enthusiastically. “Oh, why of course I’m alright! All the secrets are out in the open, both you and Rose, I mean Pink, are here at the same time, honestly it’s like a dream come true for me, why wouldn’t I be happy?” She asked in a tone of forced sincerity. Naturally, Ruby was not happy with having the last few hours described as a ‘dream come true’ and let out a choked sob of sadness and rage as she curled into a ball on the couch. As Pearl ran over and tried to explain herself and Greg found himself dealing with two distraught gems, Steven turned to Amethyst, who hadn’t moved from his bed.

“How about you Amethyst, you doing alright?”

She turned to look at him. “Steven, don’t worry about me, alright? I’m dealing with a lot of feelings about her right now, but you don’t need to worry about that. I’m a big gem, I can handle myself, but you’re still a kid.”

“Amethyst…”

“Look Steven, I get what you’re trying to do, but I can handle my own feelings, alright? Right now this is between me and your mom, we’re both adults, so just let us work out our own issues and focus on how you feel about all of this, ok?” She told him, staring at him with a surprisingly serious expression on her face. 

Steven locked eyes with her for a moment before nodding and going back to lookout duty, and neither of them said anything until the front door flew open and Connie ran inside. “Steven!” She ran up to him and leaned in close. “Steven the walk here was so awkward, she asked me all these questions about how you gave me the sword and what my ‘relationship’ with you was like, and then when I said I was too young to date anyone she got confused! Then when I tried to explain how humans age my mom gave her an in-depth description of puberty, for both genders!” She nearly shouted as she grabbed his shoulders. “What is going on here!?”

Steven felt his cheeks flushing as he realized why Pink had asked those questions. Behind her he saw Pink walk in the front door right as Connie realized how close she was to him and turned around.

“Oh Connie, your mother said she was going to wait for you in town once I explained that this was gem business, but before I leave I really need to schedule another meeting with her! She’s already taught me so much about how human mothers operate.”

Amethyst jumped down to the couch energetically. “Alright, we’re all back together, no one’s going to break down crying again.”

“Sapphire…”

“Alright, mostly here. Sapphire seemed pretty insistent when I talked to her earlier, so maybe we just let her be, alright?” Amethyst told Ruby. “It’ll be fine, you don’t need her around to tell you what to do.”

The small red gem gave a hesitant nod at that, and as the room settled into an uncomfortable silence Steven took the lead.

“So, Connie, you know how I thought my mom killed Pink Diamond? Turns out she was Pink Diamond and she just faked her own shattering. And then the other Diamonds made a machine that was supposed to reach back in time and grab her mind right as she died to put in a copy of her gem, but it didn’t, because she wasn’t dead, but then she gave up her gem to have me and I guess that counted as ‘dying’ for the machine so it took her mind and put it in the copy gem, only it took a long time because the machine was abandoned for thousands of years, so she only woke up a few months ago, but she couldn’t let anyone on Homeworld know that she was Rose Quartz at the time, and she came here to deal with The Cluster but since we already dealt with it we need to figure out what to do now.”

“Ah.” Connie said, her face focused as she took in everything Steven just said. “I’m guessing telling the truth is a bad idea?”

“Yes, the other Diamonds will likely imprison me and take Steven for study or worse if they learn the truth, and I don’t even want to think about what they’ll do to the Earth and everyone on it.” Pink answered.

Connie nodded. “Alright, so… wait.” She turned and stared at Pink, realization and horror flooding her face. “You… on the beach, you thought me and Steven were… And then my mom explained…”

Pink just stared in confusion. “I felt it was a reasonable assumption, he trusted you with my sword and you ran into town to help save him when you heard of an invasion, just like Pearl would have done for me back in the old days.” 

“Yes, well that was the past, and the past is gone, and we need to look to the future!” Pearl said, blushing fiercely.

“Yes, I agree. Thankfully, Connie's mom taught me the proper rituals for when a parent is introduced to their child’s partner.” Pink said before turning to Connie, who looked like she wanted to be literally anywhere else. “Now, Connie Maheswaran, what are your intentions with my son?”

The room fell silent as Connie’s face filled with horror, meanwhile Steven blushed nearly solid red and Greg was torn between amusement and sympathy. After a few moments Connie found her voice enough to respond. “Well… I like spending time with him, and going on missions, and reading together and talking about stuff and hanging out around the temple and stuff like that.”

Pink nodded. “I believe that is acceptable. Greg, is Steven old enough for that behavior? I remember you told me that humans need to wait until they’re old enough to do romantic things.”

“They’re fine.” He said. “Trust me, these kids are being watched by either me or the gems… a good chunk of the time they’re together, and they aren’t doing anything inappropriate.”

Pink nodded. “That’s good. Now that has been completed, it is time to get back to business, specifically what we’re going to do about my court and the fact that every gem in this room other than me is wanted by Homeworld.” There were several intakes of breath as the humans in the room took in her statement, but she continued before anyone had the time to freak out. “Fortunately, I already came up with a cover story: you all are being granted reduced sentences for your crimes in exchange for information on the gem-human hybrid created by Rose Quartz. I’ll need to keep a few gems here for appearances, but considering how well Amethyst was getting along with them earlier I don’t think that’ll be a problem.”

Amethyst nodded at that. “Alright, I think I can work with them.”

“Beyond that there will be a small group of researchers, but if I do this right you won’t even notice they’re here most of the time. You’ll all be safe and protected, and that’s what matters right now.” Pink said, turning to face Ruby, who was trying to keep herself under control. “I understand if you hate me, sometimes when I think about all the damage I did I hate myself! But as long as you’re willing to work with me, we can fix what we can and work around what we can’t, and maybe in a few hundred years we can be friends again.”

The room was silent again before Greg sighed and stood up. “Well, I don’t have a few hundred years, but I’m willing to start putting things back together now if you want.” He said, holding out his hand.

Pink took it and pulled him in gently. “I would like that.”  _ I’m going to get you those centuries, you and every other human on this planet, I don’t know how but I will,  _ she thought.  _ I won’t say anything right now in case it doesn’t work, but if it does… if it does then we’ll have all the centuries we want. And maybe after a few of those centuries you and Pearl will learn to love each other the way I love both of you. _

She felt him pull back, and she let him go. To her surprise, when she turned to Pearl the pale gem wasn’t looking at Greg with jealousy or anger the way she had back in the old days.  _ Which you never did anything about even though it was obviously hurting both of them  _ a quiet voice whispered inside her mind. Instead, Pearl just gave Greg a friendly nod as he backed off and she walked up to Pink.

“So, now that we got that out of the way, I just have one question left: what now? You have a plan to keep us safe for now, but what about every other gem in the empire? We didn’t do anything for them for thousands of years because we didn’t have the strength, but now we actually have a chance, so what are we going to do with it?”

Pink took a moment to steady herself and suppress her initial reaction, which was  _ you sit here where it’s safe and let me handle it. _ She knew Pearl well enough to know that trying to do that would just make her mad, so she came up with an alternative. “Well, I’m trying to teach the gems in my court how to think for themselves and that they can go beyond what they were made for, so maybe you and the others could act as an example for them? Also, I know there’s plenty of off-colors and other gems that don’t fit into Homeworld society, so if I find them they’ll need somewhere safe to go…” Pink said, hoping it would be enough.  _ Please don’t ask to come with me, I can’t risk the other Diamonds asking questions about you. _

Pearl seemed to accept her answer though, simply nodding as she rubbed her chin thoughtfully. “We do have plenty of experience with that, and if Peridot can be reformed… yes, that sounds like a marvelous idea, we’ll make Earth into a haven for all gems who don’t fit in elsewhere while you work on reforming the system from the inside.”

“Wait what was that about a Peridot?” Pink asked.

Stevens face lit up as he jumped forward to explain. “Oh, Peridot got sent here a while back to check on The Cluster with Lapis and Jasper and then she was the bad guy for a while but we took her prisoner and she helped us bubble The Cluster and learned to love the Earth and now she lives with Lapis out at Dad’s families old barn!”

Pink blinked a few times before responding. “Is she the one who called Yellow a clod?”

“Yeah! We were hiding just offscreen when she did it, it was pretty cool!” Steven said as Pink felt terror at the idea of Yellow discovering him.

“That’s… so you said she’s reformed now?”

“Yeah, she used to be all into that Homeworld caste junk.” Amethyst chimed in. “But now she’s chill, and Pearl only hit her once!” Pink turned to look at Pearl, who was blushing as Amethyst talked. Considering the sort of things Homeworld believes about Pearls, Pink could imagine why Pearl would punch an ‘unreformed’ Peridot.

“Well, that sounds good then. If you could convince a random Peridot to think for herself and stand up to Yellow Diamond, I’m sure you’ll be able to help any other gem that comes to Earth, right?” Pink asked the group. Even Ruby was nodding at that, her tears drying but not completely gone.  _ Yes! They’ll be safe on Earth, Amethyst will get the other Amethysts on their side easily, and then any gem I send here will be to outnumbered to cause trouble. It’s perfect, it keeps them safe, and it helps me reform my court. _

After everyone agreed to her plan, even Ruby, the group just sort of stood around in the beach house, and for the first time since she arrived Pink finally had the free time to catch up on what she had missed, and Steven was more than happy to fill her in.

\-----

“... So I let Lapis out of the mirror and she got really angry at the rest of the gems and stole the ocean, but I was able to talk her down and get her to put the ocean back and I healed her gem with my healing spit!” Steven was saying.

Pink found herself nodding along as his story continued, explaining how Lapis went to Homeworld and got dragged back on Yellow Diamonds orders to help find and deal with the rebels.  _ She was in the mirror the whole time, and none of us noticed. I assumed that with that crack she was too damaged to be conscious, even if her mind had survived the emplacement process, but she was alive and aware the whole time. At least she’s free now, another of my mistakes that someone else had to fix for me. _

\-----

“So I used my GPS on my phone to take Lapis on a tour of Earth! I showed her Empire City, and the forest, and Jersey! I really thought she would like Jersey, the people there hate the Earth as much as she did.” Greg, Amethyst, and Connie laughed at that as the other gems just looked around confused.

Pink didn’t really see what was so funny about that.  _ A group of humans who hate the Earth? How horrible! I should try to help them! _

For some reason when she mentioned that to Greg he started laughing even harder.

\-----

[Pinks room, Pink Diamond POV]

Pink was not having a panic attack. She had not run into her room after Steven finished his story about dealing with Jasper and the Rubies with the vision of Stevens gem being ripped from his body filling her mind. She had calmly analysed the situation, realized that her emotions were too strong to suppress, and moved to her room so she wouldn’t hurt anyone when she let them out. That’s her story and she’s sticking to it.

After a few minutes, she heard the sound of the door opening, and Steven walked in. “Mom, I’m sorry.” He said, tears in his eyes.  _ What!? What does he have to be sorry about, this is all my fault, all my fault…  _ “I shouldn’t have told you those stories, I should have seen how upset you were and…”

Pink pulled him in for a hug. “Steven, you did nothing wrong. I’m upset because all of those things, every gem who tried to hurt you for being ‘Rose Quartz’ is my fault, and you nearly died because of me. You never should have had to deal with my mistakes.” Steven was quiet as she held him in her arms protectively, and for a moment the two sat there in the sea of Pink clouds. But like all moments, it needed to come to an end eventually.

“Mom…” Steven began, gently freeing himself from her hug. “Did… when you had me… you knew you weren’t going to be there for me.” He said quietly. “But, you left so many messes behind, and you hurt so many people when you left, and I, I just…” He was nearly crying. “Why? Why have me, why leave me to deal with all of your mistakes?”

“Steven…”

“That’s what you did! You didn’t know you would come back, you thought it was the end, and you did it anyway! Why? Why would you leave them?”

Pink stared at her son, sadness in her mind as she thought about what to say, before eventually with a sigh she began to speak. “Because I wanted out.” Steven blinked in shock at her words. “Steven, I spent thousands of years cleaning up the aftermath of the worst mistake I ever made, and no amount of time ever made that pain go away. I lived in a constant cloud of misery, with only a few bright rays of happiness, like when I spent time with your father, or Pearl on a good day.”

“Pearl had bad days?”

“No, on my good days.” Pink clarified “On good days me and Pearl could spend hours enjoying ourselves, immersed in the beauty of Earth, but sometimes she reminded me to much of the past, of my mistakes, and I pushed her away. And as the years went on, there were fewer good days. She tried her best, but with that stupid order I gave her she could never talk about it, and I was to afraid of re-opening an old wound to do it myself, even when I was sane.”

She looked to Steven, seeing the tears in his eyes. “When I came up with the idea to have you, it seemed like the perfect solution. My pain, my regrets, all of it would die with me, and then you would be there. A hybrid of human and gem, with all the best traits of both, without everything that held me back. Looking back, I know that I could have done more to prepare you and the others, but I wasn’t in my right mind.”  _ That’s an understatement. I spent nine months in a suicidal mindset, convinced that my own death would solve everything.  _ “But I never wanted you to deal with my mistakes. I wanted you to live your own life, to follow your own path, and take advantage of the strength of a Diamond and the adaptability of a human. I know I should have thought it through more, but I want you to know that I never wanted you to be hurt by mistakes, and I am so sorry that you were.”

Steven stared at her, eyes watering, for several moments before he took a step forward. Wrapping his arms around her, he leaned in and embraced her. “I believe you mom.” He whispered in her ear.

The two of them sat like that for several minutes until Pink stood up. Steven maintained his grip on her neck, and she found herself carrying his (comparatively) miniature form around as she began to walk towards the exit. Just as she was about to leave, she felt him go still, and looking in his eyes she saw the look of someone who had just remembered something terrible.

“Mom, why didn’t you tell anyone about Bismuth?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Not much to say about this chapter, as always let me know what you think, even if I don't respond to your comments I do read them and I love everyone who posts them!


	21. Confrontation Part 5

“Mom, why didn’t you tell anyone about Bismuth?”

Time froze for Pink Diamond as memories flooded back. That night in the forge, hiding Bismuth's bubble from the others and deflecting their questions until a battle big enough to provide an excuse, then thousands of years of hiding her and lying to everyone. Turning to Steven, she realized that yet again she’d made a horrible mistake and left him to deal with it, and when her eyes met his and she saw the pain in them, she was hit with a wave of shame.

“That’s a long story Steven, and it isn’t a happy one. Did she tell you why we disagreed that night?” At Stevens nod, she gestured to herself with her free arm. “I don’t think I have to explain why I disagreed with her plan. After that, I panicked. I lied to the others because I couldn’t bear to tell them the truth, and the longer I lied the worse telling the truth would be, and then the war ended, and that should have been the best time for me to let her out.”

“So why didn’t you?”

With a sigh Pink remembered those days. How it seemed that there was no point anymore, with almost everyone they’d cared for gone. Garnet sometimes spending weeks away from them as Ruby and Sapphire sought solitude to talk to each other about what had happened, while Pearl was so shaken by guilt that some days she couldn’t even look Pink in the eye. “Because it would have hurt, and everyone was already hurting so much, I couldn’t do that to them.”

“Well, why not tell them afterwards? You had thousands of years?” Steven asked.

“Because I was a coward.” Pink answered. “Because I knew it would hurt, it could tear the Crystal Gems apart, and I couldn’t let that happen. Pearl, Garnet, and then Amethyst were the only friends I had left, and I was so afraid that if I told the truth I would lose one of them. So I didn’t. I left Bismuth bubbled for thousands of years because I was afraid, because I didn’t want to lose the only people in my life who could still make me feel genuine happiness.” She felt tears begin to slide down her face as she talked.

After a few moments, she felt Steven shift in her arm. “But Bismuth got hurt. She was your friend, and you left her alone for thousands of years, and then when she got out she hated you and she thought I was you and she got really angry and I had to bubble her again and…”

“She what?” Pink asked, shocked.  _ She thought he was me, and she blamed him for my mistakes just like all those other gems. I need to deal with this now.  _ “Steven, is Bismuth’s gem in the burning room?”

At his nod, she gently put him down. “Alright, I’m going to go talk to Bismuth. Now, she’s going to be very angry, so I don’t want you coming with me, alright? Go tell everyone else I’m letting Bismuth out, and if I’m not back soon then come with them, but this talk needs to be between me and Bismuth, alright?”

Steven nodded at her, and she watched as he left. As soon as the door closed behind him, she asked her room to uncover the crystal arteries of the temple, sliding down into the burning room. FInding Bismuth’s gem wasn’t hard, it was one of the closest to the ground, and once she grabbed it she took one look at the host of bubbled gems and decided to go back to her room.  _ Can’t have her freaking out and think I’m harvesting gems or something  _ Pink thought as she began to climb back up through the crystal arteries.

\-----

Steven was already back in his mom's room, this time with Connie. Pink only went to get Bismuth a few minutes ago, but he felt so awkward sitting out in the beach house that he had only stayed long enough to grab Connie and go back in.  _ I can wait for mom to be done from here, and this way me and Connie can talk by ourselves. _

The two of them sat down on a cloud, their legs hanging off into the seemingly endless sky below them. Even after all this time, and knowing that he could slow his own falls down, Steven still felt a pang of unease when he sat down. If Connie felt the same way, she gave no sign, simply flopping down on the cloud next to him and sighing. 

“You know, as soon as my mom finds out that was your mom she’s going to start asking why your mom wanted to know ‘human rituals for meeting their child's romantic partner.’” She said as she stared up at the “sky”.

“Sorry about that, I didn’t expect her to run into you, otherwise I would have warned you about her.”

“It’s fine, I just…” Connie was cut off when the clouds nearby shifted. The two of them rolled around, keeping low as they watched Pink step back into the room, and Steven quietly asked the room to shift the clouds near them to keep them hidden.

“Steven, what’s she doing back here?” Connie asked as Steven got a sinking feeling in his gut.  _ Of course she wasn’t going to just stay down in the burning room, there’s all the corrupted gems there! I should have known she would come here.  _ He thought as he watched Pink clear a small space and pull Bismuth’s bubble up to her eyes.  _ Although, she said I shouldn’t come with her, but I was here when she came back… _

“Steven!” Connie whispered as she jabbed him with her elbow. “What is going on!”

As Steven hastily explained the situation with Bismuth, Pink finished whatever mental preparations she was making, and with a gentle squeeze and a pop Bismuth was free. Her gem glowed, rising into the air as her form materialized, and she fell flat on the ground. The blacksmith slowly rose to her knees, brushing her rainbow locks out of her eyes as she examined herself.

“I’m back?” She asked disbelievingly.

“Yes, you are.” Pink answered, and when Bismuth saw her her entire body tensed, and she nearly leapt to her feet.

“Pink Diamond,” She spat the name as if it was a curse. “You’re supposed to be a pile of shards.”

Pink muttered something to herself as she looked down and cringed at the sight of her gem. “Right, you heard about that. Well, time for the rest of the story.” With that she began to glow, and her body shifted down, her gem rotating inwards, as she began to take on a familiar form. By the time the glow had disappeared, and Rose Quartz stood in front of her, Bismuth was frozen solid in confusion.

“Rose? What… no, this is a trick, you can’t be…”

Pink, Rose now, said something to softly for the pair of eavesdroppers to hear, and Bismuth started yelling.

“You’re lying! I don’t know what your game is here Pink, but I’m not falling for it. Rose might have locked me away, but even then she was still kinder and more compassionate than any Diamond has ever been!”

“Bismuth, this isn’t a game, we’re the same person.”

“Oh yeah? Same gem, same memories? Then when you were Steven, what did I tell you in my forge?” Steven winced at that as Connie shifted uncomfortably.  _ I should have seen that one coming.  _ He thought as Rose blinked in surprise.

“Bismuth, me and Steven are different people.”

“Right, because he has Rose Quartz's gem, and you’re a Diamond pretending to be her. So why don’t you cut the act and get to the point. I’m not going to just roll over and go back to being a good little gem, no matter how much you pretend to be Rose, so just hit me with the rejuvenator and get it over with already.”

“What’s a rejuvenator?” Connie whispered to Steven, who just shrugged in response as Rose sighed and began to explain how their were two Pink Diamond gems. At the end of her explanation, Bismuth was just shaking her head laughing.

“You know I’m never going to believe your stories, no matter how much you try, so can you just get on with it? Bring out the Zircons, have your little show trial and shatter me already, because I’ll never go back to being your slave.” 

The entire time she had been talking, Bismuth had taken small careful steps, shifting her weight from side to side as she slowly drew close to Rose. Steven didn’t have the experience to notice the shifts, and Rose was to overcome by her emotions to realize what was happening until Bismuth pounced. For Rose, the war was millennia gone, but for Bismuth it had been just going on yesterday, which is why when she struck, her hands were shapeshifted into points as she drove them through Rose’s form, dissipating her and leaving Pink Diamonds gem lying on the ground.

It all happened in only a second, and Steven and Connie stared in shock as Bismuth picked up Pink’s gem from the floor. “Alright you upper crust, this is what you get for playing mind games with me.” She said as she shapeshifted a pocket to hold Pink’s gem in.  _ A Diamond as a hostage will help. Now, if they got me, they probably got the others to, so I need to rescue them before Pink’s guards swarm me.  _ The image of the other Crystal Gems being grabbed by legions of loyalist Quartzes flashed in her mind, and she scowled as she searched for the exit.  _ They better still be alright, if any of them are hurt Pink is going to wish I’d only shattered her. _

In their hiding spot, Steven and Connie shook themselves out of their shock as Bismuth started poking and prodding at the clouds for a way out, and at once the two stood up.

“Bismuth!” Steven yelled.  _ Please let Mom be ok, please let Mom be ok.  _ He chanted as he ran towards the gem.

“Oh! Steven! You busted out to, that’s good! Who’s your friend here?” Bismuth asked happily.

“I’m Connie, but I think introductions should wait, we’ve got a bit of a problem.” COnnie said, looking at Steven in confusion.

“Yeah, I’ll say! Pink’s goons must have come back to finish the job. You two know where we are?”

Steven just looked at her baffled for a moment. “Yeah, we’re in Mom’s room in the temple on Earth.”

“We’re still on Earth? That’s great! This temple was built after the war, but you’ve been living here for years Steven! Quick, are there any side doors we can take? Pinks goons are probably guarding the main exit. I mean, I guess we could just threaten to shatter Pink here, they’d let us through then…”

“Bismuth, please don’t shatter my mom.” Steven said, eyes pleading.

“Wait, what do you… are you saying that she was…” Bismuth stared at him, her mouth moving as no words came out. Steven and Connie looked at each other as Steven sat down in front of Bismuth.

“It’s a very long story. It all started earlier today when I had this weird dream…”

\-----

“... and then she brought you back here. You know the rest.” Steven finished telling Bismuth, who simply sat on the ground, nodding.

“Uh huh, yeah, I see.”

“You’re taking this rather well.” Connie noted from the side.

“Oh, I am absolutely furious!” Bismuth said with a cheerful voice. “But not with either of you.”

“Well, yeah I guess that’s pretty fair.” Steven said as Bismuth pulled Pinks gem out from her pocket and stared at it.

“You know, if you think about it, she did take my advice.” Bismuth said as she ran her hands over the points on Pinks gem, marveling at the feeling of holding a Diamond in her hands. “She really went and ‘shattered Pink Diamond’, and look where that got her.” Bismuth sighed as she handed Pink over to Steven. “You said the others know I’m out of my bubble? I’m going to go talk to them, can you open the door for me and keep her busy for a few minutes while I calm down?”

“Yeah, ok.” Steven nodded as he picked up Pink and willed the room to make a door.  _ I’m getting better at mentally controlling this place!  _ He thought as Bismuth walked out, leaving him and Connie alone with his moms gem.

“Soooo, how long is it going to take her to reform?” Connie asked, breaking the awkward silence.

“Well, I really don’t know how long it usually takes for a Diamond to reform…” Steven said, frowning at the pink gem in his hands as he looked it over.

“Well, until she comes back, I think we have a lot to talk about.” Connie said, resting her hand on his shoulder.

“We do?”

“Yes Steven. This has been a really crazy day so far, and I was only here for part of it. I’ll admit, I’m not the best at talking to people about their problems the way you are, but I can’t stab or study my way through this, so I guess it’s time to talk.” She maneuvered so she was directly across from Steven, her hands on his as she looked him in the eyes. “Your mom is back, how does that make you feel?”

Steven felt his words catch in his throat as he tried to think of a response. “I… I mean… it feels.” He stammered before sighing and hanging his head. “I don’t know. I want to be happy she’s back, but she hurt the Crystal Gems when she had me, but I feel like I can’t complain about that without it sounding like I wish I was never born, and that’s not what I mean at all! And then there’s things like Jasper and The Cluster and it’s just, if she’d been around earlier, when Lapis showed up on Homeworld, she could have come to Earth with her, and Jasper never would have kidnapped us, and Lapis wouldn’t have been Malachite, and Jasper wouldn’t be corrupted, and…”

“Steven, Steven breathe.” Connie said, grabbing his shoulders as he started to cry. “It’s done now, you can’t change it.”

“I know.” Steven sniffed. “And I know she’s trying to fix things now, and I’m happy. I’m happy that she’ll be able to work things out with Dad and the Crystal Gems, I’m happy that she’s going to help fix the corrupted gems, and there’s so many other things that she’s doing that I’m happy about, but it feels like everytime she starts talking about a problem she’ll fix it turns out that she’s the reason it’s there, and I just don’t know how to feel about her.” He said, head hung in shame. “Everyone else knows how to feel about her. Pearl and Dad are happy, Garnet got upset and unfused, Bismuth is angry, Amethyst is annoyed, and I just don’t know what to think anymore.”

“Steven, that’s ok. It’s ok to feel confused, and lost, and not know what to think. How do you think I felt when I found out about the rebellion and what the Crystal Gems do?” She asked him gently. “I know it’s not the same, but if you ever want to talk about it, I'll always be here for you. Unless it’s a school night, my parents keep my cell phone in their room after lights out on school nights.”

Steven smiled at her. “Thanks Connie, that means a lot to me.” Looking down he frowned at the inert gem in his hands. “How angry do you think the gems on the beach will be if I go out there and ask them how long it takes a Diamond to reform?”

“Well, maybe something’s blocking her? Like, Bismuth kept her in a pocket, you’ve held her the entire time, maybe we just need to back off and give her some space?” Steven nodded at Connie's suggestion and placed Pink down on a cloud next to them. After a few moments when nothing happened, he felt Connie’s hand on his shoulder again.

The two of them sat there for a few minutes, Steven shifting the clouds to let them be more comfortable, and they talked about the things good friends talk about: school, parents, the governance of an intergalactic Absolute Quadarchy, and music. Sometime while they were talking, Steven felt the length of the day catch up to him, and as he slumped forward Connie caught him and let him lean on her to stay upright. Naturally, Pink reformed while they were talking, and neither of them noticed she was back until they heard a soft “awwww” from behind them.

\-----

Pink was honestly surprised when she’d woken up. With how Bismuth was acting, she was certain that she was going to be kept locked up, maybe even bubbled, for a long time. Instead, she woke up in her room, with Steven leaning on Connie a few feet away with their backs to her.  _ Oh how cute, it’s just like me and Greg!  _ She thought as she let out a soft “awwwww” and the two of them leapt to their feet.

“Mom!” Steven said, blushing. “You’re back! I was really worried when you didn’t reform soon, but then I remembered that Pearl once took two weeks and I got worried about all the gems on the beach who won’t be happy if you got poofed, but you’re back!” He stammered.

Pink looked around, and Bismuth was nowhere to be seen “What happened?”

Steven looked at Connie for support before turning back to her. “I felt really awkward in the main room, so I asked Connie if she wanted to come in here with me while we waited for you to talk to Bismuth, then we sort of hid and listened in and I know you didn’t want me to get involved but Bismuth was freaking out and had you as a hostage and I think it’s a good thing I was there to explain things to her.”

Pink stared at him for a few moments before chuckling. “Well, I guess I can’t get to mad at you for disobeying me then.” She ruffled his hair. “I’m guessing Bismuth went out to the beach house?”

“Yeah, she said she needed a few minutes away from you, but I’m pretty sure it’s been a few minutes, so let’s head out there!” Steven said, grabbing Pink and Connie’s hands as he lead them out the door into the beach house.

Out in the beach house, Pink surveyed the scene. Ruby and Pearl were practically hanging off of Bismuth in the kitchen and Greg and Amethyst were chatting on the couch, but when she walked in, they all stopped and stared at her.  _ Yeah, I deserve this. I deserve all of this.  _ She thought, unable to meet the eyes of the people she loved. As she stood there and the silence stretched on even longer, she found she couldn’t take it anymore.

“I’m sorry.”

No one responded.  _ They all hate me, I know it. This is what I deserve for what I did, to Bismuth, to my court, to everyone. There’s no way any of them will ever trust me again.  _ As her thoughts ran away from her, she heard footsteps, and as she looked up she jolted back as a large hand smacked into her face.

Turning back, she looked Bismuth in the eyes. The blacksmith was not happy, but Pink knew from plenty of sparring matches that she could hit far harder than that if she wanted.

“Look Rose, Pink, whatever you call yourself. I don’t like you.” Bismuth said, and Pink winced at the words. “But right now, you’re the one thing keeping that ship out there from lighting this hill up until the temple is a pile of rubble, and you’re keeping the other Diamonds from messing with us, so I’m not going to do anything to you.” She scowled as she said it, as if not fighting Pink was disgusting to her. “But, I want as little to do with you as possible. You need to talk to me, you ask someone else to send the message, or hook me up with one of those human communicators Amethyst over there was talking about and send a message that way, but from now on I don’t want to see you unless it’s absolutely necessary, and I mean ‘the other Diamonds are coming to conquer Earth’ necessary, got it?”

Pink nodded mutely, and Bismuth walked past her towards the warp pad. Before she could leave, Steven spoke up.

“Uhm, Bismuth, if I want to come see you, is that ok?”

Bismuth's expression did a complete 180 as she knelt down to ruffle Steven’s hair. “Course it is Steven, you’re welcome to drop by anytime, and if she’s not on the planet I’ll stop by to visit all the time.” She said with a smile before standing up and continuing on towards the warp pad, where in a flash of light she vanished.

Behind her, Pink heard footsteps as Greg walked up to her. “I think we all have had a very long day, it’s starting to get late and I’m sure Connie’s mom is worried sick about her. Right now, we all could use a nice long break, and tomorrow we can get together again and go over what happened today with calmer minds.”

Pink nodded.  _ He’s right, today feels like it’s been more than a month long. _ As she turned to leave, Steven grabbed her hand. “Mom, Connie’s mom is in town waiting for her, and we haven’t had dinner. Do you want to come with us?”

Pink thought about the mountain of responsibilities that was probably growing back on her ship by the minute. There would likely have been a call from one of the other Diamonds, and there would be all the reports from her new colony, and even if she went on the ship now and started working she wouldn’t be able to clear the backlog by morning. But when she looked at Steven’s wide, pleading eyes, and remembered how long she had left him without a mother, the weight of her responsibilities faded away.

“Sure Steven, that sounds nice.” She told him. As she followed him and Connie out onto the beach and watched them race each other to the town, she knew Greg was talking with the others about what she’d done, and as she saw the ship hanging over the beach, she knew that the gems in her court, especially the “inner circle” who she’d told everything to, were likely worried sick about her.  _ It’s just a quick visit to town to get Steven some food and send Connie home with her mother, you can deal with all of that when you get back.  _ She told herself, walking down the beach after the children.

As she walked down the beach, she remembered why she had fallen in love with the Earth all those thousands of years ago. The soft roar of the waves against the sand, the calls of birds, the smell of salt water, all of it a wonderful reminder of the beauty of the planet she had protected. After a long day of facing down the consequences of her decisions, answering for her mistakes made defending the Earth, it was a reminder she sorely needed.

Walking up to the town, she made out the shapes of humans walking around the boardwalk, and after a few moments identified three of them as Connie and Steven discussing food options with Dr. Maheswaran. When Steven waved at her, she smiled and walked into town, her worries and regrets muted but not forgotten as she sat down for her first meal with her son.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And with that, the confrontations between Pink and the canon cast come to an end. Now the truth is out, and the next arc is mainly going to be everyone around Pink and Steven reacting to the shifting status quo as the two of them get used to their new lives.
> 
> Just a bit of heads up, this was not my way of writing Bismuth out of the story. Now that we've met the Earth crew, I'll be following Steven around as well as Pink, probably alternating chapters if they're on separate planets, and Bismuth will show up regularly in Steven's chapters. She just has some issues with Pink right now and wants nothing to do with her.
> 
> As always, let me know what you think, if I did something good let me know so I can keep doing good things, and if I did something bad let me know so I can avoid it in the future.


	22. Meetings 1

“So let me get this straight.” Dr. Maheswaran said. “You’re actually a clone of Steven’s mother, who died in childbirth, with all of her memories, because of some secret double life you were living during a war thousands of years ago? And now because of that double life, you have to pretend to be a complete stranger who’s only interested in humanity ”

“That just about sums it up, yes.” Pink answered, furtively looking around for anyone close enough to hear them. Steven and Connie had done their best to keep the secret in public, but for an inquisitive mother with a doctorate that just threw up all sorts of red flags, so now the two mothers were down by the beach as their children chatted with the Pizza family. “I know it’s a bit much to take in, but Steven trusts Connie and I could tell that trying to keep this secret from you would cause problems.” She chuckled as she looked over the ocean. “I have a lot of experience with secrets causing problems.”

Priyanka gave her a look of sympathy at that as she digested the revelation that the large pink woman next to her was actually some sort of god-queen of an alien empire spanning galaxies. And right now, she was staring out over the ocean, pain clear on her face. After a few moments of silence, Pink shook her head and put on a smile, turning back to Priyanka.

“So, I know this might seem a bit abrupt, but you are literally the only mother I know who knows enough about me to give me decent advice, so I have to ask… what do I need to do to be a good mother? I know I’ll never be the greatest ever, and with my other responsibilities I probably won’t see him more than once every couple of months, but there has to be something I can do.”

_ Worried about her child but so busy with work that she can’t spend as much time as a mother as she wants. I want to say I was never this bad, but this is hitting uncomfortably close to home for me. _Priyanka thought. “I don’t really know, your case is certainly unique, and I don’t know how much help I can give you. However, if you only have a limited amount of time with your child, listen to what they want, don’t just assume that they’re happy with what you want them to do. Otherwise, one day you’ll find that they’ve done something like get mixed up with a bunch of immortal shapeshifting rocks who fight monsters in their free time and they didn’t tell you for more than a year.”

“Speaking from experience?”

“I… yes. I tried so hard to give Connie the sort of life I would have wanted when I was a child, no money issues, good grades, plenty of extra-curriculars, that I ended up controlling her without even meaning to. The night I learned the truth, that she’d been training to fight monsters as a way to be free, well that was a wakeup call I couldn’t ignore.”

Pink nodded slowly. “Thank you, I’ll try to keep that in mind.”

The two stared out over the ocean for a while before Pink spoke up again. “I just worry… if Steven decides he wants to get involved with the empire, or visit Homeworld, or any of the other things that could get him in trouble…”

“I’m not saying let him do whatever he wants. If he wants to do those things, you should hear him out and then explain why he can’t do them, and get ready if he tries to do it anyway.”

Pink looked at her in alarm. “Why would he want to do it even if he knows how dangerous it is? He’s not like me, he doesn’t have all my regrets that he has to undo.”

“That’s…” Priyanka sighed. “That’s a matter of biology, and considering how strange his is I have no idea if it applies to him, but statistically speaking human males during puberty have a vastly increased sense of their own invincibility and a dramatically lower ability to think about the long-term consequences of their actions compared to adult humans.”

“... And how long will this last?”

“Well, legally humans are considered capable of making their own decisions by 18, but on average brain development doesn’t completely finish until the age of 25.”

Pink pondered those words for a moment before shaking her head. “I want to say his gem will help him with that, it was my brain after all, but I don’t know for certain. I’d have to find a Peridot or something to ask about the gem, and if they do an analysis they’ll learn that it’s a Pink Diamond gem, so it’ll have to be a gem I can trust… maybe I can get some of my Peridots to give Iolite a crash-course in gem studies… wait, Steven said a Peridot came here on an expedition and is friends with him! That’s perfect, now I just need an expert in human biology…” She turned to look Dr. Maheswaran up and down as she spoke. “Doctor, I know this is a lot to ask, but I need to know what effect the gem is having on my son's biology.”

Priyanka sighed. “I’ll see what I can do, right now I’m working overtime every week to put money in Connie’s college fund, so I don’t know if I have the free time to run something like that by myself.”

Pink hung her head. “I see, in that case…”

“However! If we were to bring Steven into the hospital and study him there, we could use the other staff members expertise and the equipment there, and I would be getting paid by the hospital.”

“But I don’t have any money…” Pink started to say.

“Greg does, but that’s besides the point. Steven is unique, never before seen, and any university in the country would be willing to pay for his treatment in exchange for a chance to study him. In fact, I’m honestly amazed that none of the doctors he’s ever visited looked into that gem.”

Pink frowned. “I don’t like the idea of Steven being an experiment, but if it’s the only way to find out how his biology works…” She sighed and shook her head. “I don’t know, I’ll think about it.”

“Well, Steven knows how to get in touch with me, let me know if you come to a decision.”

“I will, thank you.” Pink said, turning to look at her ship hovering over the beach. “In the meantime, I have work to do. Goodbye, hopefully we will see each other again.”

\-----

Back onboard her ship, Pink finally faced down all the work she had put off during the day. First there was the routine issues with her colony, then the mess that her panicked orders on the way to Earth had caused, and it just piled up. However, as she found herself in a room with the few gems in her court who knew the whole truth about her situation, she found herself wishing that the other Diamonds would call her and give her an excuse to avoid this mess.

“So, is everyone clear on what we’re going to do here?” She asked the assembled gems, receiving a round of nods in response. “Good! Now that that’s out of the way, we have one more item to discuss: you. Specifically, how you all feel now that you know the truth. I know that I didn’t have much time to explain things earlier, and I know that with everything that happened today I didn’t have much time to explain myself to you, but I want you to know that if you have any questions for me I will answer them as best as I can.”

For a moment, no one spoke, until finally Spinel broke the silence. “Yeah, question, I read up on how humans have kids and I have to ask how exactly…”

“Shapeshifting.”

“For nine months?”

“I am very good at shapeshifting.”

Spinel considered that for a moment before shrugging. “Fair enough.”

Pink looked over the other three gems in the room, remembering their confusion and pain when she had told the truth, and sighed. “Look, I understand that this is a lot to take in, and my ideas go against everything Homeworld teaches, and if you have a problem with that then say so!” She nearly cried out, desperation in her voice as she pleaded with them.

After a few moments of silence, Iolite spoke up. “I am not… angry, per se, with you, but I do have some concerns. From what you told us and from the records of the Crystal Gems ideology, a victory would entail the destruction of the caste system that governs Homeworld, allowing cross-type fusion and demolishing the power structure in inter-caste relationships.”

“Yes, and…?”

“I simply feel… unease at the idea. Gem types are separate for a reason, and while your testimony shows that the Crystal Gems were able to maintain order in their territories even with constant assault from Homeworld, I have seen too many cross-type fusions assault their supervisors and cause damage far beyond what either member combined should have been capable to feel comfortable with the idea of encouraging such fusions to occur regularly, they are to emotionally unstable to operate in a functional society.”

Pink felt a small smile form on her lips as she thought about Garnet and tried to imagine the stoic permafusion as “emotionally unstable”. “Iolite, while you’re on Earth taking a look at The Cluster, interview the Crystal Gem permafusion named Garnet and those around her.”

“No offense My Diamond, but one example isn’t enough evidence.”

“Well, then ask yourself this, were those fusions violent because they were unstable and dangerous to gems around them, or were they fighting back because they knew that they’d be punished if they were caught?” _ I know you’re a smart gem Iolite, you can’t let this prejudice guide your thinking. _

“As you say, My Diamond.” Iolite responded, nice and noncommittally. Pink nodded and turned to FIre Opal 6C3.

“6C3, you will be accompanying Iolite as she studies The Cluster and interviews the Crystal Gems, do you have any issues with this plan or the situation in general?”

The orange Opal shrank back a little in fear at first before gathering her composure and responding. “My Diamond, I have no issue with this assignment in particular, and if I may be honest I find the idea of going beyond my purpose… exciting. I’ve already technically gone beyond what an Opal should do by doing an Iolite’s work, and the idea of going further beyond is interesting.” She took a moment to brace herself. “However… I have concerns about the societal impact of the destruction of the caste system. No matter how much I would enjoy being able to go beyond my purpose, I understand that by giving gems a choice the empire will face a massive shortage of gems willing to do the hardest and most dangerous jobs, while every gem flocks to the easy ones, and this could cause a cascade effect through the empire as mines stop producing, factories shut down for lack of material, and soon the entire empire is stuck without any of the technology we take for granted and there’s brutal fighting over every scrap of resources and…!”

“6C3, please do not engage in rampant speculation.” Iolite chastised her apprentice.

“My apologies, but you understand my fear My Diamond? Without the ability to respond to labor shortages by producing more gems of the needed type, there were several different points in the last century where our civilization could have collapsed!”

“Well” Pink responded. “I understand your fear, but I would like to produce a counter example. Humans can’t just order a production run of new gems to fill a vacancy, but they have civilization. During your time on Earth, you should study how they do it and see if those solutions could be applied to a post-caste gem society.”

6C3 nodded in acknowledgement as Pink turned to the final member of her inner circle, the commander of her personal guard. Pink Lace Agate Facet 5 Cut 7XA (Sway) was most likely hurt the most by her actions. Her role as commander of Pinks guard had been stripped after her Rose Quartzes were deemed untrustworthy due to Pink leading the Crystal Gems while disguised as a Rose Quartz, and she had been visiting Pink on the night she was “shattered”, had been forced to bubble her command on the orders of the other Diamonds afterwards, and had spent the next few thousand years as “the agate who got her Diamond killed.”

Needless to say, she was not happy with this situation. “My Diamond” she said with enough venom to make Pink worry she would have to fight her. “I understand my orders, and I will obey them. I have no strong feelings one way or another about your goals, and as long as you attempt to make changes within the empire instead of rebelling against it I won’t try to undermine you.”

_ That’s good! _Pink thought before Sway continued. “Any further opinion I may have on the matter are unimportant, because I can’t do anything about them. You already know how much you hurt me and all the other gems in your court, you already are trying to make it right, and you’ve already spent thousands of years reflecting on your mistakes.” She slowly clenched and unclenched her fist as she spoke, her expression a thing mask of civility over a sea of rage. “There is nothing I can do to you to undo what you did, or make you more aware of who you hurt, or make you spend more time undoing it, but despite all of that, I still feel an immense amount of negative emotions at the sight of you. Now, if you will excuse me, I have work to do.”

She stood up and walked out of the room, Spinel looked like she was going to stop her but Pink waved her off. _ This isn’t something I’ll solve with a group meeting, I’ll have to pull her aside and try to talk to her one on one _Pink thought as the room fell silent.

After a few moments, Spinel spoke up. “So, now what?”

Pink straightened her back and refocused on the task at hand. “Now we keep going. I’ll handle her myself, it’s my responsibility, you three just focus on your responsibilities.”

\-----

Steven walked up the path to the barn, his hand in his mom’s. She only had a day or so before she had to go back to her colony, and he was going to introduce her to all of his friends first. They’d already wandered around town, and now they were up in the hills getting close to the barn where Lapis and Peridot were staying. Cresting a hill, he heard her stifle a laugh when she caught sight of it for the first time.

“I’ll admit, that is not what I expected a Lapis Lazuli and a Peridot to live in.” At his confused look she rushed to clarify. “That’s good Steven, that means they’re growing beyond their purpose and branching out as people.”

Steven was about to reply when a voice called out from the front of the barn. “Hey Steven! Who’s your friend?!”

As he turned, he saw Peridot slide out from under a tractor. “Hi Peridot! Is Lapis here? I want to tell you both.”

The small green gem was putting away her tools when the mother-son pair finally got to her. “Oh, she’s just in the barn relaxing, said she didn’t want to get up today. Come on! Let’s go introduce our new mystery gem!”

As the trio entered the barn, Steven looked in amazement at all the Meep-Morps Lapis and Peridot had made since the last time he’d visited. “Wow, you guys have been busy!”

“Yes well, there isn’t much else to do once the frozen Dihydrogen Monoxide begins falling, so we spent the last winter season expanding our collection!” She turned to look up at a loft and cupped her hands over her mouth. “HEY LAZULI! STEVEN’S HERE AND HE BROUGHT A FRIEND!”

“Steven? Oh, you should have told us you were coming by!” Lapis said, floating down from above. “And who’s your… friend…” She stared at Pinks gem, and Steven realized what was happening. _ She was on Earth during the war! She recognizes mom! _

“Lapis, I can explain.”

“Steven, what is… why is there a Diamond here?”

“WHAT?!?!?” Peridot screamed. “She’s a DIAMOND?! BUT HOW?”

“Guys, just calm down and I’ll explain everything, alright?”

Lapis gave a brief nod, but Peridot was to deep in her own panic to have heard them, so Lapis simply reached out with some water and grabbed the smaller green gem. “Alright Steven, if you say so.”

“Alright, so apparently, Rose Quartz was actually Pink Diamond.”

“WHAT!” The two cried simultaneously.

“So to make a long story short, yesterday I got this weird dream…”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Bit of a shorter chapter today, and sorry about the cliffhanger, I've got a busy weekend ahead of me so when the second half of the meeting with Lapis and Peridot had to be rewritten I decided to move it to the start of next weeks chapter.
> 
> As always, let me know what you think, and thank you all for reading.


	23. Meetings 2

Lapis Lazuli wasn’t a very complicated gem. She just wanted to be left alone, to spend her days in the barn or surrounding fields with Peridot and Pumpkin, a nice peaceful life where she could put her past behind her. So when one of the ghosts of the past popped up and said hello, the only thing keeping her from lashing out was how close she was to Steven. And then Steven had started to explain everything.  _ It was… she was fighting herself. I got stuck in that mirror for thousands of years because of her.  _ She felt her fists curl involuntarily as she glared at Pink Diamond, who at least had the decency to look guilty as Steven explained what had happened to Lapis.

“And then the Crystal Gems freed her from Malachite and I showed her around Earth because she didn’t want to go back to Homeworld, and then she decided to stay here at the barn. There was a bit of a problem with Peridot also staying here, but we worked it out and they’re friends now!”

Pink gave Steven a small smile. “That’s… that’s wonderful Steven. I’m glad you were able to help her like that.”

_ I wouldn’t have needed “help” if I hadn’t been stuck in that mirror in the first place!  _ Lapis raged internally as Steven smiled up at his mother.  _ Alright, keep calm, Steven is to close to her for you to lose control right now.  _ She thought as Pink turned towards her. The larger gems eyes roamed across her, and Lapis watched as Pink Diamond, one of the most powerful gems in existence, flinched in fear of her. It was subtle, Steven and Peridot probably would never notice, but Lapis did. The shift of her stance as she got ready to put herself between Lapis and Steven, the hints of fear licking her eyes, all the other minor signs of a gem that understood how powerful Lapis was on a planet with as much water as this one. As she watched, Lapis felt more excited, more powerful, more…  _ Like Malachite _

Lapis shook her head, driving the voice away. In a moment, the tension in the air disappeared, Pink relaxed her stance, and Lapis felt a wave of guilt crash into her.  _ I did it again. I thought I was moving past that but all it took was one flinch and it was like I was back there… _

“Lapis?” Steven noticed her discomfort. “You doing ok?”

Lapis stared at him, looking into those eyes as her guilt threatened to drown her.  _ I almost attacked Steven’s mom in front of him  _ she realized.  _ She’s a Diamond to me, but to him, she’s his mom, and if I’d given in…  _ she felt sick at the thought. Steven never would have forgiven her, and she would deserve it. She was just a monster, lashing out at everyone nearby and hurting thme because she was so pitiful and weak and…

“Lapis!” Steven was holding her hand as he yelled. “Lapis what’s going on?” He pleaded, eyes wide and watery as they looked into her soul. For a moment, she felt tempted to just tell the truth, just tell him everything, but she knew better. She knew from Peridots television shows that attacking a human’s parent was one of the worst things someone could do, and if she told Steven that she had been tempted, he would never forgive her.

“I’m… I’m going to go get some fresh air” she said, pushing Steven’s hand away and launching herself into the air, through the small opening where she and Peridot had attached a truck to the outside of the barn, and began to fly away.

After a few minutes, the rush of energy that made her fly away slipped away, and as she hung in the air looking out over the green lands below she wondered where she could even go. Every friend she ever had was back at the barn, and if she didn’t come back…  _ Would it be worth it? I’d be away from the Diamonds, from Pink and her web of lies, from Homeworld and the horrible monstrosity it became, from the Crystal Gems, who just left me in that mirror for thousands of years… but I’d also be away from Steven, and Pumpkin, and Peridot! I can’t just leave them behind, but if I go back… If I go back, then a Diamond will know where I am, Homeworld will know where I am, and I know she said that she doesn’t want to order us around, but I’m in Blue Diamonds court, and if she finds out that I’m here…  _ Lapis shook her head at the thought, images of the cruel and harsh Homeworld she’d returned to burned into her mind.

_ I can’t go back, but I can’t leave Peridot behind.  _ With that, she knew what she had to do. With a flap of her wings, she turned around, soaring back towards the barn as she put her thoughts together and tried to figure out what she would say. Landing just outside, she braced herself to walk back in… right as Pink Diamond walked out of the barn. For a few moments neither gem spoke, and Lapis took the time to brace herself to say her piece. 

“Pink Diamond.” She said, voice calm and in control. “Or Rose Quartz, or whoever you are, I… I need to ask you something. I need to know if you had anything to do with… with the mirror.”

Pink shook her head. “I never would have approved something like that, and if I’d known you were still conscious when Pearl showed me the mirror I would have let you out, but I thought… I thought that you’d been harvested.”

Lapis nodded.  _ Because that’s what happens to every other gem that gets stuck in something, why would they think I was anything special?  _ “I see.”

Before she could say anything else, Peridot came out of the barn. “Lapis! I thought I heard your voice out here! Now that you’re back, we have important work to do!”

Lapis blinked in confusion. “Peridot, what are you talking about?”

“While you were gone, Pink Diamond informed me that she is researching the integration of organic and gem life, something I recommended that clod Yellow should do before my defection, proving that she truly is the most intelligent of the Diamonds by both coming up with the idea on her own and coming to me, the Great and Intelligent Peridot, the only gem in existence who has studied the creation of both types of life!”

Lapis looked back at Pink, who was blushing at Peridots words. “Well, it’s not that big a deal…”

“Of course it is! Not only am I, the Peridot who called Yellow Diamond a clod, finally having my intelligence recognized, but I’m also basically getting away with my crimes with a slap on the wrist!” The small green gem crowed.

Lapis frowned. “Wait, what do you mean?”

“Oh, it’s part of my cover story for the other Diamonds, I’m telling them that the band of rebels we found has been given a reduced sentence of exile on Earth in exchange for information about human-gem hybrids.” Pink spoke up.

Lapis froze at her words, her mind racing. “So… I really am stuck on Earth then?” She felt a tinge of regret at the words.  _ I knew I couldn’t go back, and that Homeworld wasn’t a place I wanted to go back to, so why does that hurt so much to hear? _

“Well, technically you aren’t a rebel, you aren’t a Crystal Gem like the rest of us.” Peridot pointed out. “But if you aren’t listed as a rebel in Homeworlds systems, you’d probably have to go back to Blue Diamonds court.”

Lapis nodded. “Yeah, so I’m stuck on Earth.”

Steven pooped up. “With me!” He said, wrapping Lapis up in a hug.

“Yes Steven, with you. And with you two Peridot.” Lapis gave her roommate a smile. “I don’t know how much help I’ll be with your new job, but…”

“Don’t worry Lapis, you’ll do great! It’s all quite simple, and you’re a very smart gem, you’ll probably be running circles around whatever Homeworld gems come by to ‘help’ study Steven in a few months, couple years at most!”

Lapis tried to keep the doubt off her face as she nodded along.  _ Oh Peridot, you still haven’t figured out that things that seem simple to you aren’t so simple for everyone else… wait…  _ “Homeworld gems studying Steven?”

“Only a few, and only ones I trust with the truth.” Pink said. “Peridot will be in charge, when I mentioned my plan she basically insisted, she already has a plan for some basic experiments written out on the chalkboard in the barn.”

_ So she wasn’t ordered to do it, that’s nice.  _ “Well, that sounds like you all have this under control.”

“Oh not at all! I still need to make contact with human medical professionals and enlist their aid!” Peridot said.

“Uhhh, can that wait a couple days?” Steven interjected. “It’s just, mom has to leave in a day or so, and she’s got a lot of people to talk to before she goes.”

Peridot blinked a few times in surprise. “Well of course! I still need to draw up a project plan and a list of equipment I’ll need before I can begin actual studies.” She walked confidently towards the barn, waving off Pink as she did. “You may leave to attend to your other business, I have planning to do!”

Steven looked like he was going to interject, but Pink stopped him. “It’s ok Steven, I should be going anyway. Thank you for introducing me to your friends!”

Steven nodded. “Yeah, alright.” as he hugged her and she turned to walk down the road. After a few moments, the two found themselves alone, and Steven turned to her and asked “so, Connie’s school gets out soon, I could introduce you two!”

Lapis smiled. “Hop on.” and the two flew away.

\-----

Meeting with Steven’s friends had been… interesting, but now it was time for a more personal meeting. Out near the barn, in a cluster of trees to shield herself from any curious eyes, Pink Diamond disappeared, and Rose Quartz walked the Earth. Standing between the trees, she took a moment to just… be. Taking in the sights and sounds of Earth, enjoying finally letting herself be Rose again, leaving the responsibility and pain of being Pink Diamond behind, if only temporarily, she walked through the forest. With every step she took, she felt herself growing lighter as the responsibilities she had gained over the months since her awakening slid off to the back of her mind, She knew she would have to carry the weight again soon, but that was a problem for the future. For now, she was Rose Quartz again, and she had a pair of very difficult conversations to have with the two people she held closest to her heart.

Strolling through the trees, she came across a small clearing with a dirt road leading towards the town, and a slender pale figure standing nervously off to the side. As Rose slipped out of the trees, Pearl turned to her, a look of nervous excitement on her face as Rose closed the distance and embraced her.

“I’m so sorry Pearl. I never should have given you that order, I didn’t realize it would hurt you so much!” She was nearly crying as she squished Pearl into her chest. “I never should have given you that order, and I never should have lied about Bismuth, and there are so many other things that I should or shouldn’t have done and”

“Rose.” Pearl gently extracted herself from the hug. “I… I understand why you gave me that order, and I know you didn’t want to hurt me.” she sighed as she looked away “I just… I’m happy that your back, I’m happy that I can spend time with you again, but I spent years accepting that you were gone, and now it’s just… difficult.”

Rose nodded, her face locked in a sad smile. “I understand. Take as much time as you need, and if you want anything from me, just ask.”

Pearl fidgeted a little. “Yes well, as much as I would enjoy a tour of some of the grand architecture of Homeworld I don’t really want to deal with the gems that live in it.”

Rose nodded. “Of course, their attitude towards Pearls has… not improved while I was gone. If there is anything else I can do…” She trailed off as Pearl shook her head.

“Rose, you’ve already given me my freedom, I can’t ask you for anything else.”   


“Pearl, you took your own freedom, no one gave it to you. The only thing I’ve given you is heartache and pain, and I need to make it up to you! I can’t just… I can’t just pretend nothing happened.”

“You’re right.” Pearl nodded. “But that doesn’t mean you need to do some grand gesture of love. We both have grown as people, and we don’t really have enough time right now to catch up on everything, so instead of some grand gesture out of those books you liked to read, perhaps we should simply talk and try to cover as much as we can before you have to leave again.”

Rose nodded as she took a seat on a stump. “Alright, alright, you win Pearl.”  _ I’ve missed you so much. _

Pearl stood in front of Rose, back straight as she began a lecture. “Now, since you have already explained the broad outlines of your own experiences, allow me to do the same for mine.” Her gem began to glow as she projected an image of the beach house under construction. “Steven lived with Greg until he was old enough to walk and talk, at which point we took over responsibility for him…”

“I’ve been meaning to ask about that, why didn’t Greg move into the house with Steven?”

Pearl got distinctly uncomfortable at the question. “Well, you see… for the longest time after your ‘death’ I was… less than kind to Greg, and I might have convinced Garnet and Amethyst to help me… push him away from us, and Steven was living with us so…” She hung her head and sighed. “I understand that it was petty and cruel of me, especially with how close Steven and Greg are, and I have no excuse for my actions, only an explanation.”

Rose felt upset at the revelation, but not surprised. “I should have known something like that would happen. If I had just gotten you two to work together before I left then maybe…”

“You are not responsible for how I treated Gregory Rose, I am fully capable of making mistakes without you.”

“But I knew you two didn’t like each other, and I just pretended everything was fine!”

“And that hurt me, yes, but no matter how much you hurt me, I did not have the right to force Greg to live separate from Steven. We both messed up Rose.”

“But if I hadn’t…”

“If you hadn’t been with Greg, you wouldn’t have had Steven.” Pearl cut her off. “You made a lot of mistakes Rose, but from the last few years I can honestly say that Steven was not one of them.”

Rose felt taken aback.  _ When did Pearl become so assertive? … I think I like it! _

At her silence, Pearl continued. “However, you will be pleased to note that Steven helped me and Greg resolve our differences, and we consider each other friends.”

Rose’s face lit up at the news. “Pearl that’s wonderful! How did it happen, was it slow or all at once? Tell me everything!”

Pearl was taken aback by her enthusiasm. “Rose, we are friends, nothing more, and to answer your question, we bonded over our shared grief at losing you.” Rose felt a wide grin grow on her face as she motioned for Pearl to elaborate.

“It was just after Greg received a large amount of money, apparently one of his songs got sold to someone and he now has a plentiful supply of human currency. We took the opportunity to visit a large human settlement, Empire City, and spend the night in a luxurious hotel. During the course of our stay, me and Greg were forced by our close proximity to each other to discuss our feelings, and after he apologized for pursuing you even though he knew I was already with you, I confessed that I never hated him for that…” Pearl cut herself off as Rose looked at her curiously.

“Really? You never hated Greg for being interested in me?”

Pearl sighed and took a seat in front of Rose. “To be perfectly honest, while I resented him for his intrusion into our life, in the end you were the one who made the decision to date him, to have a child with him. You chose him, and that hurt me.”

Rose felt tears in her eyes as she tried to find the words to explain herself, but Pearl cut her off. “Please do not make a fuss about it, I’ve had plenty of time to come to terms with your actions Rose.”

Rose nodded mutely, and Pearl shook her head in response. “I should have started with something more entertaining. Oh! I know, let me tell you the story of the Lunar Sea Spire! Steven was just getting old enough to go on missions with us, and he had bought this backpack in the shape of a cheeseburger…”

As Pearl launched into story after story about Steven and his adventures, Rose couldn’t help but feel that she was trying to distract her, but she could tell that Pearl was done talking about the bad parts of the past for now, and trying to bring the conversation back around to that topic would not be appreciated, so she kept silent and smiled as Pearl showed a hologram of Steven distracting Crystal Shrimp with a sandwich.

And hoped that one day she would be able to make up for all the pain she caused the people she cared about.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi everyone, this chapter needed a couple rewrites before I was comfortable publishing it, and I'm still not 100% on it. If you see any problems, don't hesitate to let me know, and if you actually liked it, please let me know what I did right so I can do it again in the future.


	24. Meetings 3

As Pearl recounted story after story about life on Earth after Rose “left”, Rose found herself feeling worse and worse. _They all went through so much because of me, and even though Pearl puts on a happy face I can tell when she’s skipping over something because she doesn’t want me to feel bad. If I’d just been here to help them… if I had, Steven wouldn’t have been born, and Pearl made it very clear that she wouldn’t want that._ She sighed, hanging her head as Pearl paused in the middle of her story of playing a game of baseball against a squad of Rubies.  
  
“Rose, are you…”  
  
“I’m fine Pearl.”  
  
“You don’t seem fine.”  
  
“I…” Rose lifted her head to meet Pearls gaze and was reminded of a human legend about eyes being the windows to the soul. _It’s like she’s politely asking to be let in while getting the battering ram ready if I say no. _  
  
“It’s not something you can help with Pearl, just the same old regrets I’ve been having for a long time.”  
  
Pearl nodded. “I understand. It gets easier, with time, and if you ever need to talk to somebody you know you can always talk to me.”  
  
“Thank you Pearl.” Rose responded with a nod. “Now, you were in the middle of a story?”  
  
“Yes I was! Now let’s see, where was I…? Oh yes, the final inning, we needed one more run to win, and Steven had to tell Sapphire to stop flirting with Ruby after she missed the first two pitches, and then Sapphire finally managed to hit it and ran around the bases… right into Rubies arms, and they formed Garnet instantly. At that point our cover was blown, and we all got ready for a fight, but the Rubies were apparently just there to find Jasper, and Steven told them she was on Neptune and they believed it!”  
  
Rose let out a small chuckle at that. “And then what? I noticed their ship parked up at the barn, at least I’m assuming that Roaming Eye was theirs. What happened then?”  
  
Pearl got distinctly uncomfortable at that question. “Well, after they searched the rest of the solar system they came back looking for Jasper, but Jasper… wasn’t around, so Amethyst came up with the idea of pretending to be Jasper and saying she couldn’t leave and they should go back to Homeworld.” She shifted her weight from foot to foot as she avoided Rose’s eyes. “Well, anyways we ended up in the moonbase and Steven… Steven heard the official story of what happened to Pink Diamond.”  
  
Rose nodded, comprehension dawning in her mind. “The murals, one of the Rubies recognizes it?”  
  
“Yes.”  
  
“And their ship?”  
  
“They found us out and we knocked them into space and stole their ship.”  
  
Rose blinked in surprise. “Are… are they still out there?”  
  
“Yes.” Pearl said guiltily. “We just, left them there. You should probably pick them up on your way out.”  
  
“Yes” Rose nodded. “I should.”  
  
“...”  
  
“Pearl?”  
  
“Yes?”  
  
“After everything I’ve done, and everything I didn’t do, is it even possible for me to make up for it all? Everything that Steven went through with Homeworld gems is my fault, and then there’s all the gems that were made weaker because of the resource shortages, and all the gems that were shattered to form The Cluster…”  
  
Pearl grabbed her shoulder. “Yes.”  
  
“How can you just say that? After everything I did!”  
  
“Because you regret it. If you did all of those things and didn’t regret it, because you had convinced yourself they ‘had to be done’ or some other ridiculous justification like Blue and Yellow make, then I would say you can’t make up for your actions. But as long as you understand why it was wrong, you’ll be able to try and make things right. You might not be able to change the past, but you can change your future.”  
  
Rose looked over at Pearl in surprise. “That’s… that’s pretty thoughtful Pearl.”  
  
“Yes, well, I have been thinking about this for a while. Although I can’t take all of the credit on that, Greg helped a little.”  
  
_Not only did Pearl get help from Greg, but she also admitted to it? Will wonders never cease? _Rose thought with a smile on her face.  
  
“Speaking of Greg, I think there’s something we need to discuss Rose.”  
  
_And like that, the moment is gone. _“Alright.”  
  
“I had Steven show me how to use a human communications device yesterday, I’ll call Greg and when he gets here… the three of us will need to discuss our future.”  
  
A wave of emotions crashed through Rose’s mind. Hope, from the way the two had seemingly become friends since her departure, and fear, fear that one or both of them would leave her. But none of that showed on her face as she silently nodded.  
  
\-----  
  
Pearl spent the time waiting for Greg to arrive with another silly story about Steven, but neither of their hearts were truly in it, and when his van pulled up the two gems simply let the story die off.  
  
Soon enough, the three were sitting in a circle, Greg in the back of the van, Pearl on a stump, and Rose on the ground.  
  
“So… how are we starting this?” Greg asked.  
  
“Well, I think we all understand what the situation was when Rose… left, correct?”  
  
A pair of affirmatives answered Pearls question.  
  
“Good! In that case, all we need to discuss is how we intend to move forward! Now, me and Greg had a discussion about this yesterday, and we came to a decision about how we want to move forward.” She braced herself before continuing. “Based on our conversation yesterday, neither of us believe that jumping right back into things the way they were before is a good idea. That situation caused far to much discord between us, and as a result we need to try and figure out a different way to handle our feelings. Additionally, while I still have feelings for you, I feel that the amount of time we have been apart has changed both of us, and we need to get to know each other better before we can make a long-term decision on our relationship.”  
  
Greg nodded in agreement. “Yeah, I’m going to be honest Rose I’m not the man I used to be, and with how much you’ve changed…” He shook his head. “ We shouldn’t just jump back into this. I still love you, and I would be happy to spend some time getting to know you again, but with all of your responsibilities and how much we’ve both changed…” He trailed off, shrugging his shoulders as if to say _what can you do?_  
  
Rose felt like she’d been punched. _Well, _she reflected, _it could have been worse: they’re still willing to give it a try, and I can’t even say that they’re wrong about how much we’ve all changed… _She looked back and forth between the two of them before hanging her head and sighing.  
  
“You’re right, both of you.” She told them, and in response they both let out a sigh of relief, which brought a small smile to Rose’s lips. “I always knew you two would get along if you just took the time to get to know each other.” She said quietly.  
  
“Yeah, well, I didn’t exactly give Pearl many reasons to _want _to spend time with me.” Greg said.  
  
“It’s not all your fault, I should have brought my issues up with Rose instead of taking them out on you.  
  
“Yeah well, I should have taken a hint.”  
  
“Probably” Pearl agreed with him, eliciting a small chuckle from him as Rose slowly wrapped her head around the idea of her two companions actually getting along.  
  
Rose let out a small chuckle. “You two really have changed a lot, I can’t even imagine the two of you being so relaxed around each other back before I…” She trailed off, wincing in regret.  
  
“Yeah, it wasn’t all good times and rainbows, but we managed to work it out.” Greg said. “Especially after the incident with my van that first winter…” he trailed off, giving Pearl a knowing look as she blushed.  
  
“What incident?”  
  
“Nothing!” Pearl shouted as Greg started to laugh. “It was nothing, we just… were having trouble adjusting to your absence and… had a misunderstanding of the situation with Steven. We figured it out though, and no harm no foul!”  
  
“Easy for you to say, that dog was out for blood!”  
  
“What dog!?!?!” Rose asked.  
  
“Don’t worry about the dog Rose, it didn’t catch me.”  
  
“Why was a dog chasing you!?!?”  
  
“Because we took Steven and the van.”  
  
“What?! Why?!” Rose was getting more confused by the second even as Pearl and Greg shared a knowing look.  
  
“Well, it all started with my crashing at Vidallia’s place one day…”  
  
“Alright well I think I have taken up enough of Rose’s time for the day I’ll just head back to town to get some chores done have fun you to bye!” Pearl said, fast-walking out of the clearing towards town as Greg smirked.  
  
“Pearl wait! I’ll drop the teasing if it bothers you that much…”  
  
Pearl turned around “Thank you Greg, but I really have taken up to much of Rose’s time today, you should spend some time with her as well.” She said before turning to leave once again.  
  
“I’m not sure I want to know anymore…” Rose said as she watched Pearl leave.  
  
“Well, what do you want to talk about?”  
  
Rose turned to him, a serious look on her face as she tried to focus. “I just… you’re sure you two aren’t going to go back to fighting once I figure out how to spend more time here? I really enjoyed seeing you two getting along.”  
  
“Well yeah, me and Pearl might have our differences, and sometimes we get into fights, but at the end of the day we’re friends now.”  
  
“Just friends?” Rose asked, and as she saw Greg's face she realized that she should have kept her fantasies in her own head.  
  
“Yes Rose. If I’m going to be honest there’s basically no chance of anything else happening: Pearl and me are both attracted to… well… to women like you, and neither of us are women like you. Plus at this point it would just be all sorts of awkward even if we did work past that. So yes, we are just friends.”  
  
Rose nodded, a blush on her cheeks. “I… sorry, that was a little inappropriate of me. I just want the two of you to be happy.”  
  
“I know Rose.” He replied. “But I am happy like this. I’ve gotten more out of my life than any other dumb kid who dropped out of community college to become a rock star ever has: a wonderful relationship with a beautiful woman, an amazing kid, and a ten million dollar royalties check! I might not have a few thousand years to enjoy what I’ve got like you do, but I’ve honestly got a better life than most humans.”  
  
Rose flinched at the mention of his mortality, the constant fear that had been in the back of her mind ever since she’d seen just how much he’d aged physically since she’d seen him last. “What if you did?” She whispered.  
  
“Hmmm?”  
  
“What if you did have thousands of years?”  
  
“Rose, I’m a human, we don’t…”  
  
“Just humor me Greg, please.”  
  
Greg gave her a strange look before shrugging. “Would I get to be young again to? Because I’m going to be honest, I’m starting to get aches and pains that I would rather not deal with for eternity.” At Rose’s nod, he got a thoughtful look in his eyes. “Well… if I’m being honest, once Steven moves off to college I might call up some old friends and see if they can get me a gig or something, take advantage of the younger body and years of experience. Other than that, maybe go to college myself?” He shrugged. “Why are you asking?”  
  
Rose hesitated for a moment before responding. _No more secrets, not for him, or Pearl, or the others. _“Because I’m looking into seeing if I can make it happen.” At Greg’s look of confusion, she elaborated: “Steven is likely going to live much longer than a human because he’s a hybrid, and since I have a court full of researchers I was thinking maybe I could transfer some resources to research how hybrids work and maybe if an already-born human can become one.”  
  
Greg stared at her for a minute before a smile appeared on his face. “Well, that’s one way to take advantage of a bad situation.”  
  
“Yes well, what good is having power if I can’t help the people I care about?”  
  
“Pretty sure that counts as abuse of power… but then again from what Pearl’s told me compared to the other Diamonds that’s downright tame.” Greg said with a laugh before getting contemplative for a moment. “Hey Rose, could you… not tell Steven about this? Just until we know if it’ll work? I don’t want to get his hopes up, I don’t really know how he’s going to react and I don’t want to hurt him if it doesn’t work.” Greg frowned. “Honestly I don’t know how I’m going to react if it _does _work.”  
  
Rose was confused. “What do you mean?”  
  
“Nothing, just an old man musing about life and death, it’ll be fine. But seriously, I don’t want Steven to get his hopes up for this until we know it’ll work.”  
  
“... Alright.”  
  
\-----  
  
Rose had spent another hour talking about less serious topics with Greg: how he had been, what Steven was up to, what new stories he’d been reading, until they had been interrupted by the growl of Greg’s stomach. Telling Greg to go get dinner by himself, she found herself alone in the clearing. With a sigh and a flash of light, Pink Diamond stood where Rose had been. Walking back to her ship, she felt her true self hide away as the weight of being a Diamond once again settled on her shoulders. _One more trip down to the planet as Rose, and then I have to go back to this all the time again. _She thought as she walked through the corridors, the gems of her court throwing salutes as she passed by.  
  
Her musings were interrupted by a report that flashed on her screen:  
  
_Courier ship from Homeworld arrived in system two hours ago. Contained an urgent request for Pink Diamond to contact the rest of the authority and included a spare Diamond Communicator as cargo.  
  
Per your orders we commanded them to hold orbit while you conducted your business down on the planet._  
  
A heavy weight settled in her stomach as she read the words, and as she gave permission for the courier ship to dock with her own she braced herself for the conversation to come.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For todays chapter I tried a new writing method: in the past I wrote until i felt like stopping, and then just went to do something else, while this time when I felt like stopping I switched to another fic I've been bouncing around in my head. This method let me get todays chapter finished a day earlier than normal, so I think I'll be sticking with it.
> 
> As always, let me know what you think of this chapter, and thanks for reading.


	25. Meetings 4

Pink Diamond braced herself as she prepared to call the other Diamonds. They had gone through the trouble of sending a courier with a Diamond communicator and “requesting” that she call them as soon as possible, and the lack of any other information had let her mind run wild.

_ Do they know? How could they know? No ships have left Earth since I arrived, and the communication devices on the ship can’t even make it to my colony, the only way they could have gotten word after I told the truth would be if… if someone in my court had a portable communication device with the range to reach Homeworld… but would Blue and Yellow even trust a common gem with something like that? Sending someone to spy on another Diamond would go against everything they preach, the perfection of the Diamonds, how we are “united in our rule of all gems” and all that other stuff. _

Pushing those thoughts out of her head, she activated the Diamond communicator. “Hello Blue, hello Yellow.” Pink greeted her fellow Diamonds, clenching her teeth as she did her best to avoid giving off any sign that something was wrong. “What is the big emergency that you needed to go through all this trouble to speak to me about?”

“Well Pink,” Yellow spoke up “when you returned we had every gem producing world halt production until we could get the creation fluid mixture up to proper levels of all of our essences. Three days ago, right after you called me to ask about Earth, we had only managed to stockpile enough to begin production in a few colonies. We were _ expecting _regular shipments from you to address this shortfall, and yet not only did the last shipment arrive half-empty, according to the administrators at your colony the next one hasn’t even been started! It’s not like you’re even using it for anything, you don’t even have any proper kindergartens set up!”

“Yellow, be calm, we agreed to give her a chance to explain…”

“She wants to be treated like a Diamond, I’m treating her liek a Diamond. She’s caused empire-wide production delays..”

“Of a few days Yellow!”

“It always starts at a few days Blue! Every mess you ever dropped on me started as ‘just a few days’ behind schedule!”

Pink blinked, her tension and fear that the other Diamonds had discovered her secret dissipating as she searched for words. _ Did they seriously just call me because of this? _ “I… I had business to attend to on Earth. It’s nearly complete now, one or two below-maximum shipments won’t spell the end of the empire Yellow.”

Yellow spluttered in indignation. “Pink, you can’t just treat your duties like this! You wanted to be treated like an equal so I am…”

“Oh right, because if Blue missed a couple shipments you would call her and start yelling?” Pink asked in disbelief. _ After everything about me actually being a Diamond just like them, and it’s not even a year before they push back and start treating me like a child again! _ She raged, and before she could continue or Yellow could respond Blue chimed in.

“Pink, we aren’t angry at you, Yellow has just been under a lot of stress lately and…”

“And who’s fault is that?! You were bad enough when you were mourning but now it’s been months and you still haven’t fully taken control of your duties, and now Pink is following in your footsteps!”

Pink got the distinct impression that this call was less about her and more about the mass of neurosis and stress that called itself Yellow Diamond. “I am not abandoning my duties Yellow! I am cleaning up one of your messes, something I wouldn’t have to do if you hadn’t decided making a Geoweapon in the Earth’s crust was a good idea!”

“Pink, both of us agreed to The Cluster plan…”

“Oh, so both of you made a mistake, that’s so much better! If your plan had worked, the Earth and all of its resources would have been lost, and then what would have happened you clods?” _ That probably wasn’t the best idea, but they deserve this. _

Yellow seemed offended at her word choice. “You watched the video recording of that impertinent Peridot…”

“Yes, and I agreed with her.” Pink confirmed. “Maybe if you weren’t so stuck in your ways you would have to!” _ I don’t care that this is a bad idea, it needs to be said. _

“Yellow, Pink, enough.” Blue’s voice cut off the fight before it could escalate. “Yellow, Earth is Pinks world, and she may do with it as she wishes. Pink, do not insult Yellow, we are all Diamonds and we must in the end work together to show the rest of the empire a united front and avoid a descent into anarchy. Now, are both of you done?”

Pink was furious. _ After Yellow wasted my time, and scared me like that, she has the gall to act like this is my fault? _ “Maybe in the future you could keep Yellow from wasting _ both _our times with things like this Blue, bit hard to present a ‘united front’ when I’m constantly waiting for one of you to jump up and start demanding that I change something.” She yelled back.

“She was truly worried and…”

“And you thought just going along with it was easier than standing up to her, because you only can stand up to a gem that’s weaker than you, like me! As soon as Yellow or White tells you to do something you do it!”

“This isn’t about her Pink, this is about your refusal to take your duties seriously.”

“No, this is about you two refusing to treat me like a Diamond!”

“Pink, just calm down.”

“I was perfectly calm before I got your message and panicked while I wondered what actual, empire affecting _ emergency _could have caused you to send a courier to get in contact with me!” Pink yelled.

As the sounds of three Diamonds arguing slipped out into the halls, the Rose Quartzes of Pink Diamonds personal guard did their best to keep the other gems of her court far enough away that they couldn’t hear the Diamond Authority stabbing each other with word-shivs, but they themselves heard just about everything, and none of them were looking forward to the aftermath of this fight.

Meanwhile, as Pink got drawn deeper into the argument with the two elder Diamonds, a single unrelated thought entered her mind._ This is why the Diamond Authority needs to fall. None of us should be trusted with any power. _

\-----

“Alright, there’s my house!” Connie cried from her perch with Steven on Lapis’s back. At first she’d been uncomfortable about the idea of having Lapis carry both their weights, but after Lapis demonstrated it wasn’t a problem by grabbing them both and lifting them up with ease, she had been more than happy to get home after tennis practice by flight instead of foot.

_ Although I’m probably going to get a lot of questions from the rest of the tennis team about why a blue lady carried me away after practice… _she silenced the annoying thought as Lapis gracefully landed in front of her house, letting her and Steven climb off. “That was so cool Lapis! I’ve never flown like that before, only on an airplane!” Connie gushed as she opened the door.

“What’s this about flying?” Connie winced at her mother's voice.

“Mom! You’re home early…” She muttered out in response. “One of the gems gave me a ride home, and she can fly so she took me and Steven on a bit of a joyride.” As embarrassing as it was, after their talk in the hospital Connie had promised her mom that she would be honest about things like this, and in return her mother had promised to give her the space she needed to live her life.

“Yes well, I had to cover Dr. Freemans shift last night so he covered my shift today” At the moment, she could tell that her mom was trying to keep her protective instincts in line. “Are you saying that she carried you two while flying?”

“Yes I did” Lapis spoke up, getting a panicked look from Connie as she heard her mother stand up and walk towards the door.

“Hi Doctor Maheswaran!” Steven waved. “This is Lapis, I don’t think you two have met before, but Lapis has been around for a while, she just doesn’t really come out to talk with people that much.”

“Hello Steven, and it’s nice to meet you Lapis.” Priyanka greeted the two. “I hope this trip wasn’t dangerous?”

“Nah, it was fine” Lapis shrugged noncommittally. “I’ve lifted a lot more weight before, compared to massive chunks of rock those two were pretty light.”

Connie could tell her mom was trying to figure out how the slight blue woman in front of her could possibly lift boulders, but she did her best to move on. “Well, as long as they weren’t in any danger, that sounds perfectly fine.” Lapis just shrugged in response, obviously uncaring about gaining Priyanka's approval to fly her daughter around. Instead of pushing it, Priyanka simply turned to Steven with a look of concern. “So Steven, how have you been holding up? I understand that the last few days have been a bit… difficult for you.”

Steven gave her a small smile. “I mean… it hasn’t been the greatest, but it’s nice to actually get to talk to my mom for once,. Ever since last summer I’ve been hearing all these things about her that didn’t fit with all the stories everyone told me, and now I can actually ask her!”

Priyanka nodded slowly at his response. “Alright, just… if you ever want to spend the night over here with Connie, we’ll keep the couch open. Also, after what happened when your mother first arrived I would appreciate it if you gave me your father's phone number… just in case.”

“Oh, yeah, ok” Steven said “do you want Pearls number too? If gem stuff is happening she might know more than my dad.”

“Yes, that would be nice.”

Meanwhile, Connie felt Lapis stand near her. “So this is what a ‘Mom’ is like?”

“Uhhhh, yeah, I guess?” Connie responded, looking up at Lapis.

“Huh… weird. She’s not acting like the parents on Camp Pining Hearts.”

Connie just took a moment to stare up at Lapis, her mind going blank at what she had just heard. “Are… are you just using that one TV show to teach you about humans?”

“I also talk to Steven.” Came the bored reply.

“Errrr, right…” Connie felt like she should do something about that, but she didn’t know enough about Lapis to say something. _ I should probably talk to Steven about her, he’ll know what to do. _

“Hey Connie, I’ve got to go home for dinner, but I’ll see you on Saturday for training!” Steven said, walking up to Lapis who lifted him up and flew away before she could say anything. Connie felt her mother's eyes on her as she watched the pair fly off into the setting sun.

“So, is she the one who…”

“Yes she’s the one who did the ocean thing.”

“Ah.”

\-----

“Hi Pearl, I’m here!” Steven ran into the house. “Lapis is here too!”

“Actually I’m going to head back to the barn.” He heard as Lapis took off.

“Oh, ok.” _ I wonder what’s wrong with her? I should visit the barn more. _Steven waved as Lapis left before turning back to Pearl. “She’s not staying for dinner.”

“I heard.” Pearl said, placing a plate loaded with all the “healthy” foods she’d been trying to get him to eat ever since she’d started discussing nutrition with Connie’s mom. However, unlike most nights, when he began to eat she stayed near him, drumming her fingers on her knee as she stared off into space.

“Pearl, are you ok?”

“Hmmm? Oh, yes. I just… needed to think over my words for a moment.” She sighed, turning to Steven with a contemplative look. “Steven, you know that me and Greg both love you, right? Neither of us would trade you for anything.”

“I know Pearl.” He reached out, holding her hand as she struggled with her words.

“It’s just… with your mother back, I don’t want you to get the wrong idea. Yes, we’re happy she’s back, but we don’t regret that she had you in the first place, and I just, I just need you to know that.”

Steven leaned in and wrapped his arms around Pearls slim frame. “I know Pearl.”

She wrapped her own arms around him, and he felt droplets fall onto his head. “Good.” She whispered, and for a few moments the two sat together, embracing each other, before Pearl gently extracted herself. “But there is one more thing I need to say.” She braced herself, squeezing his shoulder in reassurement. “Steven, your father and I have had a… complicated, relationship, both with each other and your mother, and with her having to live a double life while we are trapped on Earth, we have decided to take some time to get to know each other again and, well, adjust to this whole situation.”

“Ok Pearl.” He whispered, and she gave him a soft smile as he went back to eating.

After Steven finished his dinner, and they performed their normal ritual of him moving to clean up after himself and Pearl gently pushing him aside and doing most of the work herself, he got ready for bed. Laying in bed, he put on one of his favorite Lonely Blade movies, but as he watched his mind wandered.

_ Everyone’s handling all of this without me… ever since mom came back, it’s like things stopped happening _ to _ me and started happening _ around _ me. I should be happy about that, no more surprise messes mom made coming for me, actual answers for what happened back then, and getting to actually talk to mom! It’s great but it’s just… so weird. _ Turning back to his movie, he tried to put his worries out of his mind. _ I’ll get used to it eventually, and no one wants to hear me complain right now. _

\-----

Pink Diamond had had enough. After literal hours of yelling with Blue and Yellow she was sorely tempted to simply start another rebellion, but thankfully things had not yet gotten that bad… at least until Blue tried to change the subject and asked her how her trip to Earth had gone.

“Rose Quartz did what?” Yellow asked, her eyes wide in shock.

“She gave up her gem to make a human-gem hybrid. I’m studying it.” Pink answered, glaring at Yellow as if daring her to object.

“... Fine. Study the organics, let all the traitors live, whatever. Just don’t come running to me when another rebellion starts.” Yellow said, disgust obvious on her face as she ended the call.

“Pink…” Blue spoke up only to be cut off.

“I don’t want to hear it Blue! I’ve made my decision, and if you want to undo it you’ll have to come here and make me, because I am done following your orders.”

The other Diamond leaned back from the screen in shock. “Pink, think for a moment, you’re leaving a band of Rose Quartzes to monitor a band of traitors to Homeworld with access to The Cluster!”

“Those ‘traitors’ are a Peridot who agrees with me on organic life, a Lapis Lazuli who hasn’t actually committed any crimes, an Amethyst who came out to late to be given any orders, and a Pearl who obeyed the orders of a high-ranking Quartz. None of them deserve shattering, and that is my decision to make. So I repeat, unless you want to fight me over this I have made my decision for how Earth will be run, and I will not be changing it.” _ And as long as I have anything to say about it, that is the entire list of Crystal Gems Homeworld will have. _ She would have to do something about the recording from Peridot that showed Garnet, but with any luck neither of the other Diamonds had ever actually taken the time to _ watch _that video.

Blue stared at her for a few more moments before sighing and shaking her head. “Fine Pink, just… just don’t make a habit out of this? The empire needs stability and order with all the changes from your return, and if these rebels are allowed to spread their poisonous beliefs…”

“Don’t worry Blue, I already planned for that.” Pink said, smiling internally. _ She doesn’t need to know that I think that would be a good thing. _“Just trust me, I know what I’m doing.”

With a resigned look, Blue nodded. “Very well Pink. If there is nothing else, I have work to do.” With that, she hung up, and Pink leaned back in her chair. _ That could have gone better. _She thought as she stared at the empty communicator. Pressing a button on the side of her throne, after a moment, the door opened, and the commander of her personal guard slipped inside.

“My Diamond, you summoned me?” Sway asked, the Pink Lace agate maintaining a formal attitude as she held her salute.

“Yes, I did.” Pink stood up. “We need to talk. Specifically, I want to know what you think about the truth.” _ Because at this point I’ve gone through this with just about everyone else, so I might as well just get this over with now. _

Sway stared at her, frozen in place for several moments before she finally replied. “My Diamond, your dispute with the other Diamonds is not my business, and neither is your attempt to fulfill your programming by defending the organic life of Earth.”

Pink blinked in surprise for a few moments. _ Ah. We’re doing this now. Wonderful. _“Sway, I didn’t do what I did to fulfill my programming, I did it because I couldn’t just abandon the Earth to die…”

“Because you were programmed to work with organic life. Why else would your powers work so well with organics?” She said, using arguments that made Pink feel a sense of despair at how long it would take to undo Homeworld’s brainwashing.

“Sway, even if I was influenced by my programming, you’ve worked with quartzes long enough to know that the programming they give us when we form isn’t all powerful, especially in older gems.”

“My Diamond, with all due respect considering the time periods involved you were younger when you made the decision to become Rose Quartz than most of my Quartzes were when you were ‘shattered’.”

Pink frowned at that blatant untruth. “What are you talking about? I was thousands of years old when I started the colony on Earth.”

Sway froze, her eyes locked on Pink as she tried to understand what she had just heard. “What?”

“I mean, I understand how the way I acted at the time could give the impression that I was…” _ a child that somehow had command over an entire planet _“... less than experienced, but I could have sworn that… although I never did tell anyone the truth and Blue and Yellow wouldn’t be all that interested in…”

“You…” Sway was staring at her, tears flowing down her face. “I thought… if you were just a new Diamond obeying your programming and messing up then it would be fine, but you weren’t! You were as old as I am now, and you just… you left us! You left me!” Her mask cracked as she began to yell. “Everything I did was for you! When you came back I was happier than I had ever been before, and then you tell me all of this, and everything you say makes it harder and harder to like you, but there’s this voice inside me telling me that I must and I…” she trailed off, fists clenched as she seethed in silence and Pink leaned forward.

“I’m sorry.”

Sway leaned back, avoiding her gaze. “Do you have any idea what it’s like? To look at someone and love them, even if you know they don’t care about you?” She asked, her voice barely over a whisper. “To constantly excuse everything they do wrong, even if you know you shouldn’t?”

Pink closed her eyes, her hands shaking as she shook her head. “No.”

She heard a soft snort. “I didn’t think so.”

The next thing she knew, Sway had her hand on Pinks arm. Looking up, Pink watched as the Agate marveled at the feeling of her Diamond under her fingers. “You wouldn’t…” she murmured, and for a moment the two Pink gems stood together in silence, before Sway let out a sigh. “Ever since I saw you had returned, I wanted to be near you every moment, to show you how loyal and devoted I was, like I was fresh out of the ground and eager to please all over again… and then when you told us the truth, that feeling got smaller, but even right now I can still feel it inside me, pushing me to forgive you and tell you I’m not angry for what you did…” she was shaking, her fingers digging into Pink’s form as she spoke. “... and I hate it. I want to be angry, I should be angry. You betrayed Homeworld, the empire, everyone I ever cared about. I don’t want to just forgive you and move on but everytime you talk you’re just so understanding and apologetic and the feeling comes back and…”

Pink interrupted her by gently placing her hand on Sway’s, slowly pulling her Agate’s hand off her arm. “Then don’t. Those feelings, that’s thousands of years of being told how to act, some of it from before you even came out of the ground, and once you control it, you can do amazing things.” She said, a smile on her face at the memory of Pearl and her transformation from pretty wallflower to a deadly swordswoman.

Sway on the other hand was not so easily swayed [1]. “So you want me to be angry at you? Why? How does me being angry at you instead of an obedient little gem who does whatever her Diamond commands benefit you?”

Pink shook her head. “It’s not about benefits, it’s about what’s right, and in your case, that means fighting past everything Homeworld told you about loving the Diamonds and making your own decision on how to feel about me.” Pink’s mood shifted, her eyes clouding as she stared off into space, memories of all her failures slamming into her. “Besides, I understand wanting to hate me. If I’m being honest, there are times when I look back, when I have no choice but to face down every mistake I’ve ever made, and I hate myself more than anyone else ever can.”

With that, she gave Sway a soft smile and walked towards the door. “I think I have some work to do. If you ever want to talk, you know where to find me.” She said, and as she walked out the door the last thing she saw was the commander of her personal guard with a contemplative look on her face.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [1] Yes this pun is out of place in a serious scene. No I am not sorry.
> 
> I know the Diamond conversation might not have gone the way many people wanted, but I'm trying to get across that the other Diamonds are allowing Pink an unprecedented degree of freedom for now as a result of her return, after all Blue and Yellow were still eating out of Steven's hand years after they met him in canon, and it's been less than a year for Pink, so she's still riding off of the "she's alive, cut her some slack" high. Of course, if she causes many more problems with production Yellow will be upset, and if she moves to quickly to upend the culture of the empire Blue might stop being so forgiving, and she'll probably never be as friendly for them as Steven is in canon, but compared to what we know of Pink's relationship with them in canon, this is a massive improvement.
> 
> Anyways, at 9.5 pages this is the longest of the "Meetings" arc by around a page and a half, and I actually submitted it just before midnight in my timezone, so I'm calling it a day early. Next week "Departures" sees Pink leave to return to her colony, and I get to try writing side-by-side narratives that don't really interact (Pink and Steven). In light of this, I have a question for you, my readers: Should I intermix Pink and Steven plots like in this chapter, or have them be separate chapters? Let me know, and if you have anything else to say about this chapter, say it! I love feedback!


	26. Departures 1

Pink Diamond’s return to Earth shook the worldviews of everyone it impacted. For the Crystal Gems and their human friends, it turned their entire history on its head. For the gems of Pinks inner circle, it shook their faith in the infallibility of the Diamonds to its core. And for Pink Diamond herself, it showed her just how much work she had to do.

However, she could not do that work from a hand ship hovering over Beach City, and so after a few days on Earth, and several silent disappearances to visit her friends and family as Rose Quartz, Pink knew she had to return to her colony and get back to work. There was just so much to do, and not much time to do it, and for now, those she cared for would be better off without her around to draw attention to them. 

At least, that’s what she told herself. Standing in the sand looking up at the temple, she wondered if that was the truth or if this was just her running away from her problems yet again. After a few moments, she sighed and headed up the stairs, the most trusted members of her court following her. First up, Spinel was nearly jumping as she walked along, her bouncy gait hiding the conflicted feelings about the Crystal Gems that had delayed their meeting until the last moment. Following her was Fire Opal 6C3, who had somehow when Pink wasn’t looking become Spinel’s friend, and with her was Iolite, the small purple investigator’s stance indicating that she was ready to run away at any time. Finally, Sway, the Pink Lace Agate in charge of Pinks guards, took up the rear, and was clearly unhappy about this. Pink had told her that she did not need to attend, but she had insisted. After all, the Quartzes that would be left on Earth to protect the work on The Cluster and research into how gem-human hybrids worked were technically under her command, and she felt a responsibility towards them.

Not enough of a responsibility to pretend to be happy about this situation, but enough to attend.

When Pink knocked on the door, Steven came running. “Hi! Everyone’s here!.” He said, gesturing to the collected gems in the house. As Pink waved at the assembled gems (and Steven and Connie), she noticed a few noticeable missing gems.  _ Bismuth not being here I understand, but Sapphire? And that Lapis Steven is friends with isn’t here either…  _ she sighed, resigned.  _ I can’t expect them to suddenly be happy to see me again, not after everything I did, but I was hoping- _

“So, you’re Steven, huh?” Spinel leaped forward, stretching her neck like rubber to spin it around Steven and look at him from every direction. “The name’s Spinel, pleasure to meet ya!” She said, grabbing Steven’s hand and shaking vigorously. “Nice place you got here.”

Steven found himself carried along by Spinel’s energy. “Ye.. yeah, I’m Steven. It’s nice to meet you, Spinel!” He said as his surprise drifted away. “You’re very stretchy.”

“Yes I am!” Spinel said proudly. “It’s pretty great, you want me to show you how it works?”

“I don’t-”

“I do!” Amethyst said, jumping down from the loft. As the trio began to talk, Pink waved the rest of her inner circle inside and got to work.

“Iolite, 6C3, Pearl and Peridot here will be working with you on The Cluster and the hybrid research.”

“Hello!” Pearl said with a smile that anyone who knew her body language could tell was forced. “I look forward to working with you.”

Iolite said nothing, turning to Peridot and raising an inquisitive eyebrow, and the short green gem knew exactly what was being asked. “Yes, on Earth Pearls run things. You get used to it, and if you don’t get used to it fast enough she punches you in the face. Please refer any further questions about the chain of command to Pearl.”

At that, both investigative gems turned to look at Pearl, who was projecting an air of smug satisfaction. Pink knew that look well, it was one of her favorites for hiding just how much she was hurting on the inside. As the four began to talk, she turned around to find Sway… kneeling down and talking to Steven, who had slipped away from Amethyst and Spinel when her back was turned. To make things stranger, Amethyst had dragged Ruby into their shape shifting discussion, leaving all the gems paired off without Pink.  _ Huh, I guess… I guess I’ll just wait here for someone who wants to talk to me? _

[Earlier, Steven POV]

“I don’t know Amethyst, I’m not really all that into shapeshifting, and none of that other stuff seems that fun…”

“Yeah, plus I can’t do it at all.” Connie mentioned.

“Just do it as Stevonnie dudes!” Amethyst told them before turning back to Spinel. “That sounds like an amazing prank! Spinel, you’ve got to teach me!”

“Well, it’s all mental, you need to reach deep into your gem…” Steven and Connie walked away as Spinel began to explain how she stretched her body like rubber.

Wandering over to the counter, he bumped into the large pink gem that Amethyst had called an “Agate”. Stumbling backwards, he stammered out an apology as she looked down on him, but after a moment he heard her sigh and kneel down.

“Do not apologize more than necessary, once is enough to show that you know you did wrong. Beyond that, any further apologies simply waste time.” She told him, her voice firm and solid.

“I… I’ll try to remember that.” Steven said, rubbing the back of his head sheepishly. After a moment, he extended his hand to introduce himself. “I’m Steven, and this is Connie, who are you?”

“I am Pink Lace Agate Facet 5 Cut 7XA.” She responded. “I am the commander of Pink Diamonds personal guard.”

“Oh, that… that must be difficult, with her running off all the time.” Connie said, Steven wincing as he thought of all the trouble he was causing by asking his mom to spend more time with him. 

“It is, but my task would not be so important if it were easy. If I could, I would keep her under constant guard, but as an Agate it is not my place to command my Diamond.”

“Well, why not just tell her she’s making things harder for you?” Steven asked.

“That’s… not how things are done.”

“Why not? That’s how the Crystal Gems do things, and she set all that up!” Connie said.

Sway just stared at the small hybrid in front of her, her mind running wild as she considered.  _ She did say she wants me to think for myself…  _ “Well, I’ll see about that in the future.” She told Steven, who gave her a small smile. “However, that is not why I’m here. You have been informed of the plan for a small contingent of Quartzes to remain on Earth, correct?” He nodded and she continued. “I will be visiting regularly to ensure they are not causing trouble. Quartzes left unsupervised have a tendency to break things.”

Steven gave her a smile. “So we’ll be seeing you around more? That’s neat, I can show you how to ask for stuff!” he said, putting a small smile on her face.

“Your eagerness to be of assistance does you credit.” She said, standing back to her full height. “However, your lack of knowledge of proper procedures is concerning. I will rectify that when we meet again.” She turned away, looking at Peridot, who was in the middle of explaining the epic tale of how, even though Steven  _ bubbled  _ The Cluster, if it wasn’t for her he never would have gotten near. “For now, My Diamond has seen fit to place that Peridot in charge of this research, and I must speak to her before I leave gems under my command on another world to guard her.”

“Ok, see you around.” Steven said as Sway walked away from him and Connie. Turning to the side, he saw his mom watching them, a smile on her face. “Oh, hi mom.” he said awkwardly.

“Hi Steven.” she replied, amusement in her voice. “Are you two having a good time?”

“Yeah.”

“Good.”

The three stood still, neither knowing what to say. After all, Connie didn’t want to get between the two on their last day together for a while, Steven had no experience having a mother, and she had no experience with being a mother, so as the other gems in the room talked the two of them were stuck with awkward small talk.

“So… have you talked to Dad recently?”

“Yes, I had a talk with him and Pearl a couple days ago, and I’ll be meeting him one more time before I leave.”

“Alright.” 

“...”

“...”

“... So…” Pink began “How did you two meet?”

“Oh, uhhhh…” Steven rubbed the back of his neck, embarrassed. “She was reading on the beach, I went over to talk to her and a rock fell of the temple and I accidentally summoned my bubble around us and we had to try to get out of it together.”

“Oh! I think Pearl told me about that…” Pink said. “You didn’t want them interrupting your ‘funky flow’ I think she said.”

Steven groaned, his face red with embarrassment as Connie giggled. “I was young and naive then.” He said, confidently ignoring that he was only a year and a half older now. “I’ve grown up, become wiser to the ways of the world. Connie helped! Did you know that there are places where you can just go and borrow books?”

“No, I didn’t” Pink said, genuinely surprised, drawing a shocked gasp from Connie, who immediately began to explain. “They’re called libraries, and they have huge rooms full of books on just about anything, and as long as you bring it back in two weeks or less and don’t damage them it’s entirely free! Growing up my parents moved around a lot, and I spent a lot of my days in libraries, so I know a lot about them!”

“Me and Connie go to the one in Beach City every week or so, I’ve been learning a lot about being human from her.” Steven said, a big smile on his face.

Pink frowned, remembering how Pearl had confessed that Steven had been raised by them and Greg hadn’t had much time to teach him about being human, but she quickly wiped the expression from her face. “That’s wonderful Steven, I’m so happy that you’re learning more about both sides of your heritage.” 

“Yeah I-”

Steven was cut off as a loud crash rang through the beach house. Turning to the side, the assembled gems stared at the sight of Amethyst and Spinel, their forms stretched out like noodles and wrapped into knots with each other, filling the loft where Steven’s bed was. The crash was apparently from the TV, which had been knocked to the ground as the two had done… whatever had caused that. Ruby, meanwhile, was laughing at the two from the couch, cheering them on.

No one spoke for a moment, and as Ruby read the room and fell quiet the entire room fell silent. The two shapeshifters' forms began to glow, and soon enough they were back to normal, sitting on the edge of the loft with guilty expressions. Pink let out a soft chuckle and hung her head.

“Do I even want to know what you were trying to do?”

Both gems shook their heads, and Pink let out a soft sigh as she realized everyone was looking at her, waiting to see how she would react. “Alright, just… just clean up the mess and don’t do it again.” She said, watching as the two guilty looking gems smiled and nodded quickly. Amethyst reached down and scooped up the wreckage of Steven’s TV.

“Don’t worry, I’ve got another one in my room with all the other human junk.” She said, heading towards the door, ignoring Sway’s glare as the Agate fumed at the disrespectful attitude of a Quartz. Pink put her hand on her shoulder, and she stepped back, watching as the door into the temple opened. Iolite meanwhile seemed very interested in the piles of human technology, and as the door closed Steven heard her muttering something to herself. As the room descended into an awkward silence, Spinel perked back up and bounced over to Steven and Connie.

“Soooooo… you’re Steven, huh?” She asked, a mischievous grin on her face. “Sorry about that… whatever that was. Shapeshifting is more of an art than a science.” Wrapping her arm around him, she leaned in. “It’s also a big no-no on Homeworld, which is why the fussy purple one and the uptight pink one don’t like it.”

Pink intervened as Sway and Iolite began to splutter indignantly. 

“What? I’m just fooling around, it’s all in good fun!” She said, stretching her arms out to pull the two offended gems into a hug. “See! We’re all friends here!”

If looks could shatter her two “friends” would have shattered her right there, and Steven found himself wondering if she was doing that on purpose to distract from what Amethyst had done. Before either gem in her arms could do anything, Spinel had moved on to Pearl, who was doing her best not to laugh at the Homeworld gems discomfort.

“Speaking of friends…” Spinel said as she approached, her voice lowering and her movements slowing down, causing Pearl to step back and prepare to fight. “Hi Pearl! How have you been?”

Pearl just blinked, not expecting that sort of greeting. “Hello Spinel, I’ve been fine.”

“Good! Like the new outfit, it looks a lot better than that silly dress.”

“Thank you…?” Pearl said, still bracing herself.

“Yeah, you must have had a lot of chances to try new outfits, what with Pink bringing you with her to Earth and going on adventures. Must have been nice. Too bad she didn’t think to invite me.” Spinel said, sarcasm dripping in her voice.

_ Oh, this is why she didn’t come to visit before now.  _ Steven thought as his mom moved over to Pearl and Spinel, stammering out an explanation as Pearl whirled on the stretchy pink gem.

“Spinel, I thought we were passed this-”

“Yeah, so did I” Spinel replied. “Then you dragged me off to meet my replacement and started making kissy faces at her-” she cut herself off, her fists clenched and her eyes watering.

“We didn’t-!” Pearl shouted

“Spinel I’m so sorry-”

Spinel cut them off, tears beginning to flow freely. “No, this isn’t your fault. We already talked about you leaving me behind, and I shouldn’t have come if I was just going to bring it up again. I’ll be back on the ship when you’re ready to leave.” With that, she turned and left, not giving anyone time to respond.

Pink leaned in and began talking to Pearl, too low for Steven to make out, and he looked at Connie, who was very clearly uncomfortable being in the middle of all the drama. Silently, he moved to the side, getting closer to Iolite as he did so, who turned and began to approach them.

“Greetings Steven, I am Iolite Face 5 cut 2YG, I will be assisting Peridot here with the research on your hybrid body.” She turned to Connie “I do not know you.” She said, her voice flat and nonthreatening, but not welcoming either.

“I’m Connie, Connie Maheswaran.” She said, holding out her hand.

Iolite looked at her outstretched arm “Is this some sort of greeting ritual?”

_ It’s just like Peridot all over again.  _ Steven thought as the small green gem popped up beside him.

“Yes it is! The correct response is to extend your own arm out and grip his hand firmly, followed by a short vertical oscillation. It’s actually a very nuanced ritual which can convey many different meanings. For example, gripping longer and harder than normal is a display of dominance, while an alternative that involves forming a fist and simply touching knuckles shows a casual, friendly relationship. The version she is using is for formal greetings.” Peridot helpfully informed Iolite, who nodded seriously as she reached out and shook Connie’s hand.

“Fascinating, you have researched their habits as well?”

“Indeed! Humans document a great many aspects of their culture, so much of it can be understood without ever interacting with one! Not that interacting with humans is bad, but only a few of them, like the ones in this settlement, know about gems and they start freaking out when you explain the truth to them.”

“Oh yeah, that reminded me!” Steven cut in. “Uncle Andy says he’s sorry for passing out and smashing your sculpture. He also said something about dad being a crazy SOB and when I asked what that meant he told me he’d tell me when I’m older.”

“Why would that matter?”

Connie shrugged. “That’s just something adults say.”

“Yes, it is quite annoying. It is even present in the cultural records I use for research, which makes learning about humanity difficult.”

Realization hit Steven. “Peridot… have you been just using Camp Pining Hearts to learn about humanity?”

“What an interesting question! Connie asked Lapis the same thing, a clear sign of your compatibility with her!” Peridot exclaimed as Connie placed her head in her hands.

“Peridot…”

“What is this… ‘Camp Pining Hearts’?” Iolite asked, confused. 

“Only the pinnacle of human culture!” Peridot exclaimed as Steven felt a wave of regret at having shown her the show.

“Peridot, it’s the only show you’ve watched. Maybe if you watch another show you could learn more about Earth and humans.” Connie argued.

“Yeah Peridot, there’s so much more than that on Earth, you really should learn more about Earth.”

“I agree with Steven and Connie.” Iolite stated, surprising everyone. “Logically, if you wish to learn about a subject, using multiple sources is necessary to guarantee accuracy.”

“I know a few shows you could watch Peridot!” Steven said, a smile on his face. “We’ll show you so much about Earth!”

“I suppose that that will be useful for..” Peridot trailed off as Rubies voice cut through their conversation.

“Don’t insult her like that you upper-crust snob!”

The four turned to watch as Pearl held Ruby back from jumping on 6C3 while Pink held Sway back from intervening. The Fire Opal was on the ground, propping herself up with her arms, a look of confusion on her face. _ Oh boy, here we go…  _ Steven thought as Ruby kept screaming over Pearls attempts to calm her down.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I think you can all guess what exactly was said that got Ruby angry, and next week I'll show the full thing from Pink's POV.
> 
> In the meantime, let me know how you felt about the chapter, and thank you all for being such a great group of readers.


	27. Departures 2

If she’d spent more time reading human fiction during her previous time on Earth, Pink Diamond would have known that when something seemed to be going smoothly and with no problems, fate itself would conspire to cause a problem. If she had known that, she might have been more on guard as the conversation in the beach house continued, and if she had been more observant, she might have noticed Fire Opal 6C3, a gem who despite being in her inner circle still thought in terms of the caste system that dominated Homeworld even if Spinel had been working with her, was talking to Ruby alone without anyone to keep the conversation from veering incredibly off topic. If she had noticed, she might have intervened before Ruby smacked 6C3 with a gauntleted hand and screamed “Don’t insult her like that you upper-crust snob!”

However, if Pink Diamond were perfect, or even observant enough to notice issues like that before they happened, she would be a completely different person. However, to her credit when her conversation was disrupted she moved quickly, instincts honed by centuries in a war against other gems causing her to turn and take in the scene before her quickly. Pearl noticed the problem as well, and before Pink could move she had grabbed Ruby and was holding her back. To her left Sway, the Pink Lace Agate in charge of her personal guard, took a step forward, only to halt as Pinks arm blocked her path.

Before anything else could happen, before Iolite could rush to defend her assistant or Sway could shove past her arm to confront the small red gem who had struck someone under her protection, Pink stepped forward and took command of the situation.

“What happened?” She asked, switching her gaze between Ruby and 6C3, waiting for one of them to answer. 6C3 seemed to be too shocked to put a sentence together, but Ruby had plenty to say.

“She insulted Sapphy!” The red gem yelled.

“My Diamond I didn’t intend to insult anyone, I was simply… surprised!” 6C3 responded. “I just… I just was confused at what benefits a gem like a Sapphire could receive from fusing with a Ruby-”

“And you said she was defective for wanting to be fused with me! Don’t forget that part you stuck-up, upper-crust-”

“Ruby.” Pink cut her off before turning to 6C3. “Is this true?”

6C3 stared up at her Diamond, her mouth opening and closing. “I just… I only meant… it didn’t make sense! How could a gem just violate their purpose like that? A high-ranking gem like a Sapphire wouldn’t just abandon her station just after one time fused-”

“Alright, that’s enough” Pink interjected before Ruby could. “I think I understand the problem here, and it’s one I should have dealt with before now.” Sweeping her gaze over the assembled gems and humans, she sighed. “Cross-gem fusion has not come up much before in my court, but attitudes towards it are a problem that I will need to deal with.”

“Yeah, I’ll say!” Ruby interjected, glaring at 6C3 as the orange gem cringed on the ground.

At that moment, the door to the temple opened, and Amethyst walked out, taking a whole three steps before freezing and taking in the scene before her: one gem on the ground, Ruby being held back by Pearl, and everyone else tense and looking like they had just come off of a fight.

“What I miss?” She asked, causing Pink to hang her head as Steven waved her down and began to explain.

\-----

The next few minutes were tense, with the Pink Court gems clustered along one side of the beach house as the Crystal Gems huddled on the other side. Ruby had calmed down… slightly, and no one else was willing to start a fight. Meanwhile, Pink and 6C3 were in the kitchen, Pink kneeling down to look the shorter orange gem in the eye as she talked.

“I know I haven’t had much time to talk to all of you about things like this, but I had hoped that with Garnet unfused I would have more time.” she sighed “I know now that that was wrong, I should have seen this coming and done more to prepare.”

“Errr, my Diamond? Shouldn’t you be punishing me right now?” 6C3 asked.

“No” Pink shook her head “This is just another problem I should have dealt with sooner.” She said, slumping forwards, putting her hands on her knees. “Just like every other problem I’ve had to deal with during this trip, if I’d just been smarter, thought ahead, done  _ something  _ then this wouldn’t have happened. I can’t blame you for saying what you did, it’s what the other Diamonds have told you for millennia, and I was supposed to teach you differently, I was supposed to make things right…” she trailed off, staring at the floor as the Fire Opal in front of her shifted nervously.

_ I wonder if asking her to punish me would get me out of here faster.  _ 6C3 thought to herself as she watched her Diamond go through an episode. “My Diamond, it’s my fault, I simply remembered what everyone else at the Lunar Sea Spire said about cross-type fusions, and what I should have remembered was how little what they said related to reality.” She said, attempting to take responsibility for her actions.

Pink sighed, looking up and revealing her watery eyes. “Look, just… I’ll handle this, alright? All you need to do is sit back, and I’ll figure out things with you, Iolite, Spinel, and Sway back at the colony, alright? Just… just don’t cause any more fights, alright?”

“Yes my Diamond.” She nodded in response, and Pink smiled, standing up and walking back out into the main room.

“Alright, I know things are a little tense right now, but I think we can all work past it. Now, we all know cross-type fusion is a ‘big deal’ on Homeworld, and I want to fix that eventually, but I can tell that first I need to convince the gems closest to me that it isn’t a problem. I understand that Homeworld has told you all that fusion is simply a way for combat gems to become better at fighting and that cross-type fusions are all unstable and dangerous, but that’s not true. Fusion between gems of different types is not inherently harmful, it is a reflection of relationships between gems… which reminds me that Homeworld doesn’t like relationships between gems of different types.”

She paused, hanging her head as everyone looked at her curiously.  _ I’m bad at this.  _ “The point is, relationships between different gem types are fine, cross-type fusions are not a sign that a gem is defective or otherwise, and we need to have a very serious discussion about how we will handle it in my court.” Looking at the pair of gems in front of her, and the Crystal Gems behind them, she felt a heavy weight on her shoulders.  _ I have a lot of work to do…  _

Iolite and 6C3 looked at each other, then at her, looks of discomfort on their face, and Pink let out a sigh as she realized what was going through their heads. “I won’t let anyone else punch you for what you say, this is a learning experience, alright?” She said, trying to reassure them.

Iolite spoke up first. “Speaking personally My Diamond, I have had many experiences where I have been assaulted by cross-type fusions, but I am willing to admit that perhaps that was due to my role as an investigator and not an inherent problem with fusions of that form.” The purple gem said, her tone level and professional.

Pink nodded, watching as Ruby rolled her eyes and muttered something that sounded like “no duh” in response. Ignoring the commentary, she turned to Sway, who shrugged her shoulders in response. “I saw enough cross-type fusions during the war to know they’re sane, and only deadly when they want to be. Besides, when you’re on the front line and your soldiers are risking their lives regularly with other Quartzes from other units…” she trailed off with a shrug as Iolite stared at her and Pink tried not to do the same. “Quartzes are all technically the same type, so it never  _ technically  _ broke any rule other than fusing outside of combat, and according to the laws punishment was left up to our discretion, and no one wanted to lose soldiers so…” she let the implications sink in, and Pink nodded.

“Well, in that case, I think we all have said everything we need to say about this.” She looked around, watching as the trio of Homeworld gems and clump of Crystal Gems stood awkwardly, the previous casual attitude broken by the incident. The “meeting” would end less than ten minutes later with the gems from her court filing out, and she hung her head in disappointment.  _ It went better than I expected…  _ she shook her head, turning towards Ruby, who was standing near the entrance to the temple. “I don’t suppose Sapphire is ready to talk to me yet?” she asked, and Ruby shrugged.

“Don’t know, she hasn’t been talking to me much.” Ruby growled in frustration. “All I said was that I wanted to take some time and figure myself out, and she’s acting like nothing we did for the last few thousand years matters! It’s like I’m a stranger to her!”

Pink frowned,  _ that doesn’t sound like Sapphire at all…  _ she thought, turning to the temple. “Well, I’m going to talk to her then, want me to ask her why she’s acting like that?”

“Go ahead” Ruby scoffed, plodding over to Amethyst and Pearl.

With that Pink Diamond entered the temple, using her authority as the owner of the temple to access Sapphgires room, something she had only rarely done before leaving. Silently apologizing, she stepped forward into Sapphires room, a sparse, rarely used, and gorgeously decorated space that reminded Pink of the human palaces they had seen, a mixing of Sapphire’s high status and her love of Earth. Walking up a huge staircase, Pink found the small blue gem on a balcony overlooking the main room.

Before she could say anything, Sapphire spoke up. “You’re leaving soon and want to talk one more time.” It wasn’t a question.

Pink nodded in response, and Sapphire turned to her. “What more do we have to say to each other? I trusted you, you lied to me, that’s it. Pearl explained all your reasons, and I understand why you did what you did, and I would hope you know me well enough to understand why I am not happy with you.”

“Yes, but I don’t understand why you’re hurting Ruby.” Pink responded.

Sapphire froze, literally as ice spread across the ground below her. “I’m giving her what she wanted. She needed space away from me, time to learn about herself without me…” she choked off a small sob “...without me interfering. This is how things have to be to… to make sure she gets everything she wants out of our time apart.” She choked out, holding back her tears as she turned away from Pink.

“Sapphire…”

“I can see the future, I know this is how it has to be  _ Pink.”  _ She spat out in anger, bracing herself against the railing. “Every time I look into the future, I get a new vision, and the only ones that don’t hurt to look at are the ones where I give her all the space she wanted.”

“Sapphire, did you actually follow all your visions through to the end or just stop as soon as it started hurting to keep watching?” Pink asked, feeling like she could tell what the answer was. When Sapphire didn’t answer, she stepped forward, placing her hand on Sapphires shoulder, only to pause when the smaller gem did not respond, only twitching every few moments as she ran through visions of the future. After a while, Sapphire snapped out of it, looking at Pink with a pained expression.

“I messed up, didn’t I?” She asked tearfully.

“I understand not wanting to think about the future because it hurts Sapphire.”

“No, not…” She paused, turning away. “None of my visions gave the same answer, she’s just so spontaneous and wonderful and I don’t know if it even would have helped if I’d looked at those visions before. But I should have known, I already hurt her once by relying on my future vision too much…” She turned away, her eye watering as she looked out over her room, bracing herself against the railing as if she would collapse without it.

Pink leaned down, scooping her up gently and holding her up. “It’s alright Sapphire, it’s alright.”

For a moment there was silence as Sapphire cried into Pinks hair, and then she murmured “I need to talk to Ruby.”

With a nod, Pink put her down, and the two walked out the door into the beach house. When Sapphire’s eyes met Ruby’s, she froze at the hurt in her lovers expression, a feeling Pink knew all too well.  _ She’ll thank me later  _ she thought as she nudged Sapphire forward and moved off to the side with the rest of the Crystal Gems. She saw Steven tense as Ruby and Sapphire began to talk, and she turned to face him. “Steven, I’m going to be leaving for a while, and there’s a few things I would like to talk to you about before I go.” When he looked over at RUby and Sapphire, she smiled.  _ It’s so nice that he cares so much about them. _ “They’ll need some time to talk without us getting in the way.” She told him. “Let’s head into my…  _ your  _ room in the temple?”

Connie stepped forward, holding Steven’s hand. “Before you do, there’s something we need to show you…”

“Connie, are you sure?”

“Well, when else are we going to show her.”

“Oh, you guys showing her Ste-”

“Yes, that is what we’re talking about Amethyst.” Steven cut her off, looking at Connie. “If you’re sure…”

“Not really, but she deserves to know, and it can’t be any worse than telling  _ my  _ mom.” She said, holding his hands.

Pink was vaguely aware when Sapphire and Ruby disappeared into the temple, still unfused. Most of her attention was on the scene in front of her, as Steven and Connie took cautious steps around each other, dancing to a beat she could not hear but they both knew by heart. She recognized what was going on, she had fused enough that it would be impossible for her to not, but she couldn’t believe what they were trying. Before she could process what was happening, Steven’s gem began to glow, and the two children were engulfed by a bright white glow.

_ That’s… oh my god.  _ Pink thought, staring as a tall figure stood in front of her, light brown skin and long, poofy hair over an embarrassed smile.

“Hi, I’m Stevonnie. It’s nice to meet you.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you're not happy with this chapter, you're not the only one. This arc has dragged on for so long I'm just feeling exhausted, and if I'm being honest I need some time to back away from this story and figure out what I'm going to do moving forward: after all I've been posting since October with only a couple breaks for the holidays and I actually hit the end of my outline in January and have been making it up week-to-week since, so I need some time to make new plans and come up with a way to connect the mess of ideas for what to do in the future. Beyond that, the next month for me is going to be a bit busy, I've got to move back in with my parents and start a job hunt due to personal reasons.
> 
> In light of all of these factors I have an announcement: I'm taking March off from writing this story. This is not a full-on break, not only will I be working on an outline, but I have a second story that I will be uploading to this site over the next week and updating intermittently from there on, I'll link it in the notes of next weeks chapter, which will be the last one until my break.
> 
> Anyways, I would sell my soul for comments and reader engagement, so if you see anything to talk about, leave a comment.


	28. Departures 3

“Hi, I’m Stevonnie. It’s nice to meet you.”

Pink Diamond stared. What she was seeing was impossible, and yet it had happened. Steven, her son, the bearer of the original Pink Diamond gem (_ the real Pink Diamond gem _ a treacherous voice whispered in her ear) had fused with a human. Not another human-gem hybrid, a normal, plain, human. The fusion was standing in front of her, blushing awkwardly as the rest of the Crystal Gems focused on Pink to see how she would react. _ I can’t believe it. He fused with her… he actually fused. _She thought, her mind racing as she stared on in wonder.

“Uhmmm…” Stevonnie shifted awkwardly, snapping Pink out of her trance. In two steps, she had crossed the ground between them, wrapping her arms around the impossible beautiful fusion and pulling them into a deep hug.

“Mom… I mean Pink!” Stevonnie complained, feeling herself get confused, her two halfs giving different answers.

“Oh, I’m sorry!” Pink let off, loosening her hug. “I was just so excited for you, you fused! You’re a fusion of a human and a gem, it’s so amazing, it’s unprecedented, I don’t even understand how it’s possible but I don’t care I love you!” She cried out, pulling her hug back, tighter than before, years of worries and fears sweeping away as the full implications of what she had seen hit her.

“Need… air!” Stevonnie gasped, their arms flailing helplessly against Pinks enthusiastic grip. Pink didn’t hear her, she was in her own world. _ This is amazing! A human fusing… oh I’m so happy that Steven found someone he can trust like this! _

“Ahem.” Pearl coughed, placing her hand on Pinks shoulder. “While I understand your desire to embrace them, Stevonnie is technically three quarters human, and as such we believe they still need to breathe.” She gently informed her… let’s call them former and potential future lover and leave it at that, shall we? After all, neither of them knew what to call their relationship. With a start, Pink let Stevonnie go, the fusion wincing as they checked their chest and back for bruises or cracked bones (they did not know if they had a skeleton or were closer to the gems solid forms when fused, but as Pearl had said, they were assuming they were more human than gem).

“I’m so sorry.” Pink exclaimed again, a sense of boundless joy that previously was only associated with her time as Rose Quartz filling her as she smiled at the fusion in front of her. “I was just so happy, you managed to fuse with a human! Your father tried to fuse with me one time, and ever since I always had that regret that I couldn’t fuse with him before I left…” she trailed off “I’m so happy to meet you.”

“Ye… yeah, me too. Steven had a lot of emotions about you coming back, and Connie is a total fangirl.” Stevonnie said.

“Oh, really?” Pink asked curiously. “Even after she learned…” she gestured down at her current form, gem upright and proudly displayed.

“Well, that was a bit of a surprise, and she has a lot of questions for your next visit, but Steven used their time fused as me to show her what would have happened to Earth if you hadn’t started the rebellion, and there’s all the other stuff you did after the rebellion, tracking down corrupted gems and stuff…”

“Yeah, that stuff was pretty cool.” Amethyst said, lounging on the couch. “Makes sense that Con-Con is going all Pearl about that.”

“_ Excuse me?!” _Pearl shouted, drawing a laugh from Amethyst as Stevonnie stuttered out an explanation. 

“No! I’m not going like Pearl at all! You and Pearl are really close and I’m younger than Steven and it would be super weird and…” Stevonnie trailed off as the entire room stared at them. “... and that sounded way, way worse than I intended.” They said, burying their face in their hands.

“Stevonnie, I’m flattered that you think that about me, but-”

“NO! That’s not what I meant, I just, Connie just really looks up to you, that’s it!” _ Right Connie? _ ** _Right, that… that’s honestly kind of making me sick just thinking about it. _ ** _ Well if you ever need to talk… _ ** _Steven, I do not and never have had a crush on your mom, we just said the wrong thing. _ ** _ Alright, I trust you. _“Moving on,” they said, ignoring Amethyst’s laughter “I’m really glad we got a chance to meet before you left.”

“I feel the same, it’s… it’s nice to see that it’s even possible for humans to fuse, even if it takes a hybrid…” she trailed off, her mind running. “I’m sure Peridot and whoever else ends up studying you will come up some sort of long explanation that will make as much sense to me as what the scientists in Gregs old sci-fi stories say, but for now I’m just so happy that it’s even possible.” Her eyes watered, tears flowing as she gave her… son’s fusion? Whatever they were, she was so proud! Steven found someone he could talk to, who understood him enough to make such a stable fusion with him… 

Stevonnie shifted uncomfortably as tears began to form in Pinks eyes. “So, I know you have to leave soon and it’s kind of unfair to just dump this on you right before you go, but if you want to talk about anything before you go…”

Pink gave them a look, her smile frozen in place before shaking her head. “I have a lot I would like to talk about with you, and with Steven and Connie, but we don’t have time right now…” she smiled sadly as she looked out at the beach, where her ship was waiting, her expression slipping at the reminder.

“We… Well, we can always call! And you can visit, and…” Stevonnie sighed, hanging their head. “We’ll figure something out.”

Pink nodded, putting her hand on their shoulder. “Yes, we will.” She agreed, a sense of determination filling her as she thought of everything she had to do to make a better future. “Yes we will.”

\-----

[Pink Diamond colony A002]

After their Diamonds visit to Earth, life went back to normal relatively quickly for the average gem in her one and only colony. Construction on a few structures was delayed as a few specialists were deployed to investigate removing The Cluster from Earth, but other than that, the vast majority of the colony continued on as normal: with near-crippling shortages of certain types of workers and large surpluses of other types.

Pink found herself buried in work, not only just keeping the colony running but finding ways to bend and stretch the rules of the caste system, using the misallocation of labor as an excuse. However, it was slow going, and no real progress would be made in the weeks immediately following her trip.

As the days went by, little progress was made on any of the research projects Pink dedicated her colony to, but despite this lack of success, she found herself happier than she had been in a long time. Hidden in her throne was a communicator, similar to the one she uses to communicate with the other Diamonds, linked to an identical copy hidden in a room in the temple on Earth, and even though she could go days at a time without the free time to make a call, the simple knowledge that it was there helped put her at ease.

With the retrieval of the Ruby Squad from space near Earth, the only gems left in light years of Earth were either Crystal Gems or loyal to Pink, and with the other Diamonds told to keep away from Earth she finally let herself be at ease. _ Now all I need to do is give them space, let them work this out themselves. In the long run, as long as they’re safe, we can make it work. _

\-----

[Earth Galaxy Warp]

“Now, with these changes we will have a safe connection to the one Diamond colony where the guards won’t shatter us on sight!” Peridot bragged, standing over the central pad of the Galaxy warp, which had been repaired with supplies from Pinks world. “With the restricted access, any gems using it to enter earth need to enter via one warp pad on the other end which is under constant guard, and then get off this warp pad, and go over to that one-” she pointed at a regular pad on the outer edge “-to access the Earth Warp Network! That way, I can lay some sensors down and monitor any new arrivals, and if you would get over your ridiculous restrictions we could make it even more secure!”

“Peridot, we aren’t putting bombs on the Galaxy Warp!” Steven told her, which caused Peridot to huff in exasperation.

“Security is of paramount importance Steven! If we had a remote activated explosive to cut off any hostile force-”

“Peridot, I trust mom and her guards to keep their end secure. Besides, where would we even get bombs?”

Peridot turned to him with a smile. “Well, at the urging of your companion Connie, I have branched out my review of human culture with new television shows, and recently I have been invested in a show called ‘Mythbusters’, and they have given me plenty of ideas for explosive devices!”

Steven sighed at her comment, shaking his head. Peridot had been coming up with increasingly explosive ideas ever since Connie had taken a bunch of shows over to the barn, and this was just the most recent. “Peridot…”

“Fine, fine” she waved him off. “No explosives. But I insist on having a monitoring station at the barn and temple, redundancy is important!”

Steven nodded at her. “Alright, thanks for helping get this set up Peridot.” He said, turning to look out over the crashing waves as he thought about everything that had changed in the last few weeks. His mom was alive, and she was proud of him. She was trying to fix the damage she did in the past, damage he’d begun to worry he’d have to deal with for the rest of his life. 

He should be happy about all of that, he should be enjoying the lack of responsibilities and new freedom, but he wasn’t. Ruby and Sapphire still were having issues with their relationship, Amethyst was spending a lot of time with the Quartzes that had been left behind to "guard" them, Peridot was either trying to find an excuse to make something blow up or she was poking and prodding him to try and figure out how he worked…

He sighed, hanging his head. _ My life is better now, but sometimes I just wish it was a bit less complicated. _He thought, watching the sun set over the waves.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright everyone, a bit of a short chapter today, sorry about that, but I wanted to wrap up the current arc before the hiatus and couldn't get the motivation to write more.
> 
> Thanks for all the support, I might post another "reactions" chapter during March, but otherwise expect the next chapter on April 3rd.
> 
> Have a nice time, and I will see you in a month!
> 
> EDIT: I nearly forgot, have a link to my side project! I mentioned this a couple times in the authors notes, and I understand if no one really finds it interesting since it's for a different fandom, but this is my way of blowing off steam and testing writing styles that I don't want to try in this fic, so feedback would be appreciated there as well:
> 
> https://archiveofourown.org/works/22917793/chapters/54780397


	29. Reaction 3

**The Knight**

Connie Maheswaran was not prepared for what was about to happen. After more than a year of being a part of Steven’s Universe (she still chuckled whenever she made that joke, even if only in her head) She had thought she could handle everything. Monsters, fusion, a terrifying homeworld soldier, all of it had built up her tolerance for crazy things, but when Pink Diamond came back to earth, everything changed. During her visit, as she talked to Steven and his back-from-the-dead mom, she had everything under control, and was even excited by how amazing it was that Steven could finally see his mom again, but after Stevonnie unfused and Steven’s mom left, she found herself in a very difficult position:

Alone in a car with her mother.

Priyanka was nowhere near as controlling as she had been, and Connie had gotten better at handling her mother and understanding why she acted the way she did, but the conversation in the car ride home had not been something she was looking forward to.

“Connie, I understand that you don’t want me controlling you, and you’ve grown so much since you started standing up for yourself and I am proud of that, but I will be working with Peridot and Iolite on studying human-gem hybrid biology, and that means I am going to be a lot more involved in this part of your life than I was before.”   
  
“I know mom.”

“So you know why I need you to explain what is going on.”

“Yeah it’s just… it’s kind of a mess right now, and I’m not sure I  _ should  _ be talking about some of the things I saw last time I was there. It seems like they’re all hurt and angry in different ways, and talking about it seems wrong…”

“I understand Connie, but if I’m being honest, I’m worried about this whole situation. There’s an immortal alien princess back from the dead who technically owns the planet, but she was also the rebel leader who stopped the planet from being destroyed… it all seems like one of those stories you like to read so much, and I feel like I’m out of my depth here.”

Connie was stunned. Her mother, out of her depth? The same mom who pulled off double shifts at the hospital and still had the energy to talk to her if she was awake? Who sometimes got home from work as Connie was getting ready for school and still had the energy to listen to Connie talk about what she was going to do that day?

Connie felt her stomach sink as she thought about what her mom had said. “I guess it does sound a little much when you put it like that…” She said with a blush. “Alright, so I don’t know much about Peridot, but I do know the three who raised him, Garnet Amethyst and Pearl, so I can tell you about them. If you want one of them to monitor his diet or check for symptoms, ask Pearl, she’s the best at it…”

She continued her explanation as the car slipped away from Beach City

**The Late Arrival**

Amethyst was having the time of her life. These new gems that Rose (or Pink or whatever she was calling herself) had brought to Earth were great! She was showing some of them around the boardwalk, having a good time and finally getting her mind off the crazy things that had been going on lately, mainly by explaining how humans lived when they weren’t in some super-creepy zoo. The amusement park had been hilarious, even though she’d had to jump in to stop 8XJ from taking away all the darts with sharp tips so the humans didn’t hurt themselves, and now the cluster of Quartzes was down on the beach, watching the sun set as the ship that had brought them disappeared into the sky.

“So, guess you’re all stuck on Earth now, huh?” She asked, grinning at the taller gems. Most of them were somewhere else, but for some reason 8XJ, K, and L had stuck with her all day long.

“Well, they’re working on the warp pads, but yeah, we’re staying here for a while.” 8XL said.

“Cool! So, what do you want to do first? I could show you all sorts of cool human stuff, or we could head up and hit up P-dot and her gal-pal Lapis, see what they’re up to, or-”

“Actually, we wanted to talk to you about something.” 8XK spoke up. “We were wondering… what Kindergarten were you made in?”

Amethyst froze for a moment before answering. “The Prime one here on Earth.” She said, “Why?”

“And was your hole right at the base of the kindergarten?” 8XL asked.

Amethyst fixed her with a suspicious glare to hide her surprise. “Yessssss…” she said, unsure what was going on.

The three larger Amethysts looked at each other for a moment, engaging in a silent conversation before 8XJ picked her up in a big hug. “8XM! I knew you’d catch up to us eventually!”

“Whoa, what!?” Amethyst shouted in surprise.

“We were so worried when you didn’t come out before the evacuation, but you were just taking your sweet time!” 8XL said as she leaned in to join the hug.

“Seriously, what the heck are you talking about?” Amethyst yelled as she felt 8XK join the group hug.

“We’re all from the Prime Kindergarten to!”

“When we came out of the ground, 8XM was missing! She was right on the ground, underneath me, but then 8XN came out and the rest of our unit emerged and we figured she- you, would eventually catch up when you came out! And you did!” 8XL said

“It just took a few thousand years, huh?”

“Well, you know what Holly Blue always says about us Amethysts, we’re all a bunch of layabouts who would sleep for centuries if we got the chance!”

“More like millennia!”

Amethyst only barely heard their comments with how fast her mind was racing. “So you’re… you’re my family? If I’d come out on time, I’d have been like you?” She asked quietly.

“Yeah, but you’d also have had to deal with the whole war mess.”

“And Holly Blue.”

“You got the good end of the deal, relaxing here on Earth, no stupid orders to follow or boring guard duty.”

“Even though I’m a runt?” Amethyst asked quietly, silencing the other three for a moment.

“Well, yeah.” 8XJ said. “Things got pretty bad there for a while, if being a runt means not dealing with that, I’d have taken that deal.”

“Plus, only Agates and assholes care about stuff like that.”   


“Yeah! you’re still one of us, and being a runt doesn’t change that.”

Amethyst didn’t know what to say. After thousands of years, she’d found the family she hadn’t even known she was missing, and they accepted her as she was, size and all. Tears formed in her eyes as for the first time she hugged them back. “Thanks guys, you’re the best.”

The four gems stayed like that for a few more minutes before an idea hit. “Hey, we should go introduce 8XM to the rest of the gang! What do you say?”

Amethyst nodded, wiping away the tears and putting on her classic smug smile. “I’m in! I’m going to show all of them what they were missing leaving Earth behind.”

With that, they set off back into town to track down the rest of the Quartzes and introduce Amethyst properly. And for the first time since Pink walked up the stairs to the beach house, she felt happy.

**The Runaway**

Greg Universe had lived a crazy life since running away. His first tour as a musician ended with him dating a giant alien woman, he’d ended up a beach bum in a tourist trap of a beach town, his space girlfriend had decided to have a half-human kid, dying in childbirth, leaving him to raise his son with nothing but his van and job as a car-washer, watching as he grew into a teenager with magical powers who saved the world.

And then Rose came back. Sure, she called herself Pink Diamond in public, but when they were alone, or Pearl was with them, it was just Rose, and her return had changed everything. Steven had a mother now, even if she was going to be gone most of the time, and he finally had the love of his life back. Greg didn’t know about all the stress the other gems were under, but he guessed from what he could see that they weren’t all as happy as him, but personally he was walking on clouds the rest of the week, even when she wasn’t around.

Then she left, and reality slowly slipped back into his life. Steven was in danger from Rose’s family, but she would try to protect him. Steven needed to see a doctor so they could figure out what was going on with his biology. Steven needed someone there to talk to about his mom now that she was back, and of the Crystal Gems only Pearl was willing to tell him anything. Greg had never felt more isolated from his son than he did now, sitting in his van and looking up at the night sky.

After a few minutes of staring at the stars, he heard footsteps on the concrete. Turning towards the sounds, he saw Pearl standing next to his van.

“Hello Greg.”

“Hey Pearl. Is Steven doing alright?”

“Yes, he is sleeping well, but that’s not why I came here today.”

“Oh?” Greg shifted, clearing a spot for Pearl to sit. After a moment's hesitation, she did.

“Pink… Rose asked me something, before she left. Something that I realize I don’t have a good answer for.”

“What was it?”

“She asked:  _ Why is Greg still living in the van if there’s a house right here? _ And I didn’t have an answer.”

Greg nodded. “We both agreed that it was better I stay away from gem stuff…”

“But Steven’s whole life isn’t ‘gem stuff’.” Pearl replied. “Or at least, it shouldn’t be. During her visit, Rose reminded me that she wanted him to have the good parts of both gems  _ and  _ humans, not just one or the other, and when I made his entire life about being a gem…” She hung her head in shame.

Greg pondered her words for a few moments before responding. “Well, we weren’t on the best terms back then. But the past is done, now we just need to move forward.”

Pearl looked up, thoughtfully. “Yes, you’re right…” she said, trailing off. “I’ll see about asking Bismuth to add another room to the house for you.”

“Pearl…”

“Don’t argue with me on this Greg, I hurt both you and Steven by keeping you apart, and now I’m fixing this.”

“... I was going to say ‘thank you.’” Greg said with a smile.

Pearl was momentarily caught off guard. “Yes well, it is for the best. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have some cleaning to do.”

“You sure? It’s a nice night, perfect for stargazing.” Greg said, causing Pearl to pause. 

“Well… alright.” Pearl said. “But only for a while. Also, if you could, can you show me a bit more about how this cell phone works? Connie told me I can use it to send ‘electronic mail’, which sounds useful.”

Greg nodded and pulled out his own phone. “Alright, so first you need an email address, somewhere for messages to be sent to and from. Now, on your phone you should have an app that looks like this…” he showed her his phone, eyes widening as he saw a little red one on the app. “Huh, no one sends me emails nowadays, I wonder who it is…” he said as he opened it.

From: Doctor Priyanka Maheswaran (PMaheswaranMD@SeaCityGeneral.com)

To: Greg Universe (GuitarDad@ItsAWash.com)

Subject: Medical History and Testing

_ Good evening Mr. Universe. _

_ In light of recent events involving your family, the mother of your son (please clarify exact relationship status for the paperwork) asked me to conduct a series of medical examinations on him alongside some other experts she has employed. In light of this, I would like to have your son’s medical history available prior to the beginning of the tests. _

_ Additionally, while I understand your son has pursued a non-standard educational experience, mental development is just as important as physical development, and if it is not to much trouble I would like to sit down with whichever one of his guardians or yourself who is in charge of his education on subjects such as mathematics, science, and the like so we can get an idea on if he is on track developmentally for his age. _

_ If you have any questions, feel free to email me, I work night shift tonight so I’ll be up past midnight. _

_ Sincerely _

_ Doctor Priyanka Maheswaran MD _

“Oh boy…” Greg said, reading the email before writing a response, trying to match her formal tone. “Pearl, you might want to read this.”

“Pearl did, and after a few moments nodded. “Very well, that is a reasonable request, inform her that I am free to speak on the matter at her earliest convenience.”

“Alright” Greg said, writing a response in what he hoped was a formal enough tone.

_ Hello Doctor Maheswaran _

_ Steven doesn’t exactly have a medical history. Given his unique condition, I decided to avoid taking him to the doctor as long as he was healthy, since I was worried about what would happen if a doctor discovered his “heritage” from his mother's side of the family _

_ Pearl was in charge of Steven’s education, and she says she is willing to meet with you “at your earliest convenience.” _

_ Greg Universe _

Pressing send, he turned to Pearl. “And that’s how you write an email.”

“Fascinating. Now, how do I get an ‘email address?’”

“Right, let’s just get one of those set up right now…”

After a few more moments, Pearl had her email account setup, and Dr Maheswaran had written back.

_ Mister Universe _

_ I understand your concern for your sons wellbeing in this manner, but I must insist on bringing your son in for an examination as soon as possible, and I believe we must have a serious and frank discussion on this matter when we next meet in person. _

_ Tell Pearl I’ll be by tomorrow at 4 pm. _

_ Dr Maheswaran _

Greg winced at her words.  _ I’m in for it now.  _ He thought as he turned to Pearl. “Now Pearl, the ‘CC’ thing lets you make it so another person can see the messages, like this.”

From: Greg Universe (GuitarDad@ItsAWash.com)

To: Doctor Priyanka Maheswaran (PMaheswaranMD@SeaCityGeneral.com)

CC: Pearl (Pearl@ItsAWash.com)

Subject: Re: Medical History and Testing

_ Dr Maheswaran _

_ I’m roping in Pearl on this one, she can tell you more about Steven’s curriculum. _

_ Greg Universe _

“Alright, now you should see it in your inbox now.” Greg said, pointing to Pearl’s phone.

“Yes, I do. Thank you Greg, this was very helpful.”

“Anytime!”

“Well, I should be heading back, I have some cleaning to do.”

“Alright, see you around!” Greg said as Pearl walked off into the night. Sitting back, he watched the stars for a few more minutes before sighing and heading in, closing the van doors behind him.

**The Doctor**

Priyanka Maheswaran was not in a good mood. After working all night, waking up just when Connie got home from school, and driving out to Beach City, she’d finally gotten a chance to sit down with Steven’s guardians about his upbringing. Or rather, the only two of his guardians who were still emotionally functional, apparently Amethyst (who from Connie’s stories always seemed more like a sister than a guardian) was off with her own family and Garnet was “really broken up about everything” and hadn’t been seen in days.

Which meant she only had two targets for her anger when she heard Greg and Pearl describe how Steven was being educated. Or rather, how he  _ wasn’t  _ being educated.

“You never even bothered to get him to take an equivalency test!? How has Child Protective Services not beaten a path to your door?” She asked them.

“Who?” Pearl responded as Greg did his best to shrink into the chair despite his size. Priyanka felt a vein in her forehead throb as she stared the two down.

“That’s it, I’m fixing this. Connie’s school district has a program for children who are falling behind, or who grew up in a country with a less advanced education system. It’s an eight week program during the summer, and you will enroll Steven in it and make a plan for getting him a high school degree or the next time I see his mother I will tell her that you two have completely failed to ensure her son is properly educated!”

She could tell by the looks on their faces that they were both stunned by her ultimatum, but it needed to be said. The idea that a child growing up in a country with free schools, especially ones like the one Connie was attending, would be completely uneducated… it was insane, and it could not continue.

After a few moments, Pearl stood up. “Th...thank you for your advice, doctor. I will… I will get Steven enrolled in that program as soon as possible.” The pale gem was shaking as the human next to her sank even deeper into his chair. 

“This is my fault.” Greg said, and while Priyanka couldn’t disagree with him entirely, after all the rest of Steven’s guardians had failed him as well, the way he said it made her pause, and she gave him a good long look as he continued. “I tried to give Steven the freedom to do what he wanted, and he wanted to be just like the gems. I was just so afraid of turning out like my own parents that…”

“Well, I should have known as well, after all I basically took control of his life at a young age, I should have done more research, figured out how to raise a human properly, but I kept thinking of him as a gem who happened to have some human features…” Pearl said, sadness in her voice as she looked at Priyanka with tears in her eyes. “Are we bad parents?”

A moment before, Priyanka would have said yes, but after seeing how the two of them reacted, she thought for a moment, remembering everything Connie had told her about Steven’s upbringing and what she had seen from the boy herself before shaking her head.

“You tried your best, and you care for Steven, and that makes you better than a lot of parents I have seen in my career. However, you made mistakes, big ones, and you need to try to fix them. I can tell from talking to you two that you both will do your best, but you’ll need guidance on this, guidance I don’t think I can give you. I might have raised a child, but I am not an expert on them.” Sighing, she pulled out her phone. “I’m going to email you the contact information of a youth counselor I trust, they’ll be able to help more than I can.”

Greg and Pearl nodded at her, still shaken by her words. “That’s… thank you.” Greg said.

“Yes, that is very helpful of you.” Pearl agreed. “Now, about Steven’s medical examination…”

Priyanka nodded. “My schedule is normally packed, but I’ll see if I can get him in next Monday.”

“That sounds good, we’ll be there.” Greg answered.

After that, the three spent a bit more time planning, Pearl looked up the requirements for a homeschooled student in Delmarva, Greg felt his guilt pile up as he admitted that Steven didn’t have a birth certificate, being born on the beach in a flash of light, and Priyanka feeling a growing headache as she wished she wasn’t the first outside adult to discover Steven’s situation.

**The Letter**

_ Hi Mom, Hi Dad, it’s Greg. _

_ I know I haven’t written in a couple years, but some really big things have happened. _

_ Steven, your grandson, is finally going to school, being a respectable member of society. I guess I should have done that a long time ago, but I didn’t, and that got me thinking: maybe I was a bit to carefree, maybe I should have taken things a bit more seriously. I know, not something you ever expected me to write, but it’s true. I’m not going to end up like you though, I’m still Greg Universe, I’m still living my life the way I want to, and I am never going to be the son you always wished you had, but I’m not the carefree kid who bought a van and hit the road after dropping out of community college, and maybe, hopefully, you two aren’t the same people I ran away from either. _

_ If you aren’t, I’m willing to meet you halfway. Steven deserves at least the chance to meet his grandparents. If you’re interested, you know where to find me, the same address I’ve been sending letters from for the last 15 years. _

Sliding the letter into the envelope, Greg stamped it and handed it to Barb.

“Writing to your parents again?” She asked, a look of sympathy in her eyes.

“Yeah, maybe this time they’ll respond.” Greg said, his tone revealing how likely he thought that was.

“I’ll let you know if they do, alright? A letter comes for you, it’s the first thing I deliver that day.” Babr said, trying to keep him positive.

“Thanks Barb, you’re the best.”

“Anytime Greg, anytime.” She said as he walked out the door, looking at the letter in her hands. “You jerks don’t deserve him.” She told it before sorting it into the outgoing mail pile.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WOOOO BOY THOSE NEW EPISODES HUH?
> 
> Anyways, this is the Reactions chapter I mentioned in the last regular update, brought to you courtesy of the episodes "Growing Pains" and "Mr. Universe"
> 
> The Connie and Amethyst portions were sitting in my Google Docs for a couple weeks, but literally everything else was written today, right after I finished watching yesterdays episodes. I have a lot of feelings about what I saw there, and hopefully what I wrote is engaging!
> 
> Thanks to everyone who reads, likes, and comments on this work. The next main plot update is still scheduled for the first Friday (or first Saturday, undecided) of April


	30. Aftermath 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The two Pink Diamonds begin to handle the aftermath of their recent meeting

Returning to the normal grind of her life after her visit to Earth was difficult for Pink Diamond. Oh sure, the work was much the same, the responsibilities unchanged from her time before the trip… but everything else was different. The relationships between her and her “inner court”, the gems she had revealed the truth about herself to, were shaken to their core. Even Iolite, who always focused on being official above all else, was acting differently, as if she was doing her best to throw herself into her work to avoid thinking about what Pink had shown them… Or perhaps Pink was simply being paranoid, and there was nothing to worry about and everything was fine. _ Right, and maybe Blue Yellow and White will renounce their ways and reform into reasonable productive people who aren’t tyrants. _She thought with a sigh, shaking her head as she turned back to the work in front of her. Working through the stack of paperwork, she found herself slowly growing more and more frustrated by the situation she was in.

On her colony, the experiments with not killing the planet while making gems were showing progress, but even the most promising method, sprinkling the ground near the injection with a constant stream of Rose Quartz tears, had problems. The most obvious being that it required a steady stream of Rose Quartz tears. Although her research teams were following up and trying to figure out _ why _Rose Quartz tears had that effect, that was leading into another problem: her entire court was short staffed except for the Quartz guards, who were assigned to manual labor but couldn’t make up the shortfall without extensive training, training that the intellectual gem types would refuse to give them according to a few questions she’d asked Spinel to ask them. As it was, the caste system was to deeply entrenched despite the last few months, although she was seeing some progress in being able to move gems from one intellectual pursuit to another, but even that was slow going in the face of (an incredibly passive and quiet) campaign of resistance by certain members of her court who were more stuck in their ways.

She did send a request to Blue and Yellow for any gems with “discipline issues” to come to her court and fill the ranks, hoping that they would be more open to her ideas while arguing to the other Diamonds that with the smaller size of her court she was better suited to pay direct attention to their issues, and discipline problems tended to be quickly resolved when a Diamond got involved, but there had been nothing but a vague “we’ll see” from Blue and a basic acknowledgement from Yellow, so until then she had nothing to do but slam her head repeatedly into the wall that was entrenched traditionalists who were oh so loyal to their Diamond that they had to verify every “nonstandard” order several times and constantly petitioned for her attention to complain about other gems enacting illegal orders in her name, even when she was the one who gave those orders! It was maddening, it was exhausting, and worst of all it was a reminder of just how powerless she was despite her position as a Diamond.

As long as the other Diamonds remained in the background, a silent threat to any radical change, she had to settle for minor changes and small pushes, and if they decided to investigate Earth themselves... 

She couldn’t let that happen. She’d just gotten back in contact with everyone on Earth, and the idea of the other Diamonds anywhere near them, especially White… it terrified her to her very core. So she kept things quiet, she made small pushes here and there, and she took full advantage of her complete control over communications to make sure any attempt by the other Diamonds to look into her activities only saw what she wanted it to see. It was hard, exhausting work, and she made little progress day by day, but as the days became weeks, she began to see signs that her work wasn’t for nothing, that there was hope.

_ I hope Steven is doing better than I am _, she thought.

\-----

Steven Universe was nervous. For the first time in his life, he’d be visiting a doctor, and not just any doctor but Connie’s Mom! No matter how much Dad and Pearl tried to reassure him on the drive over in the Dondai, he was still feeling a bit anxious.

“But what if she says I’m really sick and can’t talk to Connie anymore? What if my gem makes my body look like I have cancer and she operates even though I’m fine, like on _ Under the Knife _? Or what if-”

“Steven, relax.” His Dad said from the driver's seat. “I’m sure Doctor Maheswaran won’t make any mistakes like that, and if she does find out that you’re sick, then won’t it be better to find out now instead of when it gets really bad?” He asked, calming his son down with reason.

“Yes Steven, she seems like a very professional medical expert, much better than the hacks humans were going to during the war.” Pearl said, nose deep in a textbook on modern medical science. “It astounds me how less than a hundred fifty years ago humans were arguing about if germ theory was real or not, and now they have all of this! You’re in good hands here Steven, and me and Greg are going to be right there with you, so you have nothing to worry about.”

Steven nodded, still uneasy as his mind flashed through a number of times he’d been with Pearl and had had plenty to worry about, memories of missions running through his mind. “Alright Pearl.” He replied, a fake smile on his face so she wouldn’t worry.

The rest of the ride was mostly silent, his dad focusing on driving and bracing himself for the chewing out of a lifetime, while Pearl was engrossed with her book. Soon enough they arrived at the hospital and were directed to a room where Dr. Maheswaran was waiting. What followed were a series of tests for Steven, and when she noticed several irregularities just with his vitals she pulled Pearl aside and began running the same tests on the pale gem. Naturally this only proved that gems don’t have most vitals, but it did calm Steven down a little as Priyanka marked test after test as “inconclusive.”

FInally, it was time for a bit more in depth look at Steven. Taking Pearls X-ray first as a baseline, and convincing the technician running the machine that it wasn’t a malfunction or prank, Steven got his own body scanned.

When the results were developed all hell broke loose in the hospital room.

“Look at these fracture patterns! It’s like he was constantly breaking his bones and healing them instantly.” Dr. Maheswaran said, gesturing to the image in front of them as Pearl and Greg looked faint.

“We...well that’s good right?” Steven asked, trying to calm everyone down. “I got healed, that means it’s all fixed now.” He said as he looked between Greg and Pearl, who were both frozen as they stared at the image in front of them. “Guys, come on I’m fine.” He pleaded with them.

“Steven.” The doctor said, pulling his attention back to her. “Can you identify these breaks, and if so can you tell me how much pain receiving them caused you?”

“Oh! Uhhhh…” Steven looked over the fissures on the image. “Well, that one looks like from when Jasper headbutted me, back when she first got to Earth! I didn’t really feel that much pain, I blacked out pretty much right as she hit… why are you looking at me like that?”

“Steven, a head wound serious enough to cause an instant blackout is serious! How long ago did you receive this injury, in the aftermath did you have any vision problems, nausea, dizziness, or any other unusual symptoms?”

“Uhhh, I mean I woke up right afterwards on an alien spaceship, and I did feel a bit queazy, but I was in a prison cell and we had to break out and the ship crashed down from orbit and exploded so I thought that was why I was dizzy and stuff…” Steven trailed off as he saw Dr. Maheswaran’s mouth opened wide in shock, while to either side of him Greg looked like he was going to be sick and Pearl had tears welling up in her eyes. “But it was ok! We stopped them from taking us back to Homeworld, and Peridot and Lapis are free on Earth because of it! And I made some new friends with the cool kids when they took me out on a joy ride… and I got trapped in the escape pod as it filled up with that weird liquid stuff… and then the gems attacked it because you didn’t know I was in it and I had to dodge Pearl's spear while holding my breath…” Stevens' gaze got distant as he recounted the event while Pearl held her hands together, tears flowing down her face as he talked and Priyanka turned to face her.

“Steven…” his dad spoke up from next to him, a haunted look in his eyes. “Steven, why didn’t you tell me about the pod? You just said you went out for a joyride and the other kids had to explain things when you got trapped in the pod, you never said that you were in danger!”

“I didn’t want you to worry…” Steven replied quietly as the room went silent.

After a few moments, Dr. Maheswaran spoke up again. “Steven, I think I need to speak with you alone for a few minutes.” Nodding, Pearl and Greg shuffled out of the room, and she kneeled down in front of the young boy. “Steven, I knew from Connie that you had a stressful life, and sometimes you were in dangerous situations but… be honest with me, how many times have you been in a situation where you felt your life was in danger?” She asked gently, looking him directly in the eyes as he began to answer.

“Well… there was the time centipeedle attacked… and the time at the upside-down pyramid where we were stuck in a maze full of deadly traps… and the time I chased Pearl across some floating rocks and almost fell…” he trailed off, eyes watering as he looked up at Dr. Maheswaran. “Please don’t blame Pearl, she told me not to follow her there, and the one with the spaceship the gems and Dad tried to get me to leave but I came back because I wanted to be strong like them and-” he choked off a sob as he felt his emotions hit, trying and failing to keep them under control as he struggled to be the funny kid everyone loved.

After a few moments, he was able to get himself under control, looking up at Priyanka who was still processing this revelation. Blinking, she pushed her thoughts aside as she looked down at him, doing her best attempt to comfort even as her mind raced. She knew she wasn’t the best at emotional comfort, Doug usually handled that when Connie needed help, although she had been trying to get better. But this… this was beyond Connie worrying about her GPA, or even that one time she’d outright broken one of her schoolmates arms, and she knew she was nowhere near qualified to deal with it.

“Steven, look at me. I’m not angry at you or anyone else.” She lied through her teeth, knowing Steven didn’t want to hear the truth right now. “But I am concerned. You’ve been through a lot of stressful events at such a young age, and feeling emotional about such trauma is completely understandable. I don’t have the psychological training to make a diagnosis on your mental state, but I’ve heard enough that I will be recommending you to a therapist, someone who does, alright?”

“There’s something wrong with my mind!?” Steven cried in alarm.

“No! No there’s nothing _ wrong _with your brain, it’s just… trauma leaves injuries on more than just your body, it also leaves marks on your mind, and while it seems you’ve healed physically, the person I am recommending you to will help you heal mentally. I know it seems scary, but if you were hurt and it wasn’t getting better, you’d go see a doctor, and this is the same idea, just for your mind.” She explained, wincing at every mistake she made.

Meanwhile, Steven nodded slowly, understanding on his face. “Ok… so I’ll go see this therapist and I’ll feel better?”

“It’s not that simple Steven. Healing takes time, and whatever power you have that lets you heal your body instantly won’t work on your mind, so you’re going to have to take time before you’re fully healed.” She said, trying to downplay his expectations, as she knew that every therapist had horror stories of patients who expected immediate results even when that was impossible.

“Alright… can I talk to Dad and Pearl about this?” Steven asked, and Priyanka nodded, turning towards the door to retrieve them. The rest of the meeting was… a mess. Priyanka was able to keep herself from chewing out Greg and Pearl again when she saw their expressions, but she was very firm on her insistence that Steven see someone to discuss his mental health issues with, and while one of them comforted Steven she was able to corner the other and pry for details on the sources of his injuries. At the end of the meeting, she was left with much, much more information on the life of Steven Universe than she had had before… but she also had a lot more concerns, and before the trio left she made sure they got a meeting scheduled for Steven and a therapist.

The drive back to Beach City was much more somber than the drive out, and sitting in the backseat Steven found himself conflicted. On one hand, Connie's mom had been really nice and understanding about the “injuries” his brain had, but on the other, Dad and Pearl were feeling bad, and nothing he said or did could make them feel better. Sighing, he slumped into the back of the car, wishing that things were as simple as they had been when he was a kid… but also grateful that he would finally be able to talk to someone about some of the things that he couldn’t talk to the gems about.

\-----

Back at the house, Steven leapt up the stairs with a single jump, throwing open the door as he continued to try and convince Dad and Pearl he was fine. “See, would a Steven who was in pain be able to make that jump? No, he wouldn’t, because only a Steven who heals instantly and never gets physically hurt can do that.”

“Steven this is serious!” Pearl shouted as she chased after him. “Even if you healed instantly, those breaks still happened! If you’ve been getting hurt all this time and not saying anything-”

“I’m fine Pearl!” He replied, annoyance growing in her voice. _ Why can’t she just let it go? Why does she have to be so upset about me? I hate it when she’s upset, and I’m trying to fix it but she won’t let me! _He yelled internally, frustrated with the whole situation.

“Steven” Dad spoke up “please, just tell us the truth. If you’ve been getting hurt that badly, then-”

“I’m fine!” Steven shouted, not understanding what their problem was. “It’s over, it’s done, I’m going to see a doctor who can help me stop remembering it so much, and it’ll be fine.”

“Steven therapists don’t work like that! Doctor Maheswaran was very specific that if the root cause of the injury isn’t addressed then-” Pearl was cut off by Steven yelling.

“The ‘root cause’ is me being a Crystal Gem! You aren’t going to leave me behind again, I’m not a little kid anymore!” He screamed, tears running down his face as he realized what he’d just said. “I… I mean…”

“Steven, no one is saying you’re not a Crystal Gem…” His dad was saying as he turned around, running back through the house to the temple. In front of him, the door to the temple glowed pink and split open, and he ran inside, into his mom's room. Inside, he collapsed on a cloud, crying in frustration at himself and this whole situation.

After a few minutes, he stood back up, putting his head in his hands. _ Why did I do that? Why couldn’t I just keep calm and handle it? I’m Steven! I fix problems like this, and I make people feel better, but why is it so hard to make myself feel better? _

With that question, he laid back out on the cloud, staring up into the endless sky. “This was all so much easier back before Mom came back… I hope she’s doing better than I am.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright everyone, welcome back! A lot has happened since my last update, and even more since the last full chapter in February.
> 
> I moved back in with my mom after Coronavirus killed my job hunt, my state shut down, and Steven Universe Future ended. I really enjoyed the last few episodes, although as you can probably tell, I'm doing my best to resolves Steven's issues a couple of years before canon, when they can be resolved without him going full worm. That doesn't mean it's going to be easy, after all all the events he described happened in canon season 1, and we only left canon behind in season 4, replacing the zoo arc with Pinks trip to Earth, so he's got plenty of trauma to work through. However, he hasn't seen Lars die or go through any of the trauma from season 5 or the movie, and with an earlier intervention the trauma he does have will be managed better.
> 
> Anyways, kudos and comments are appreciated, and if you have anything to say say it, I'm always happy to discuss this story with my readers.


	31. Aftermath 2

Steven Universe was tired.

Not physically, it was way too early in the day for him to be physically tired, but mentally. After the revelation at the doctor's office and the argument he had with Dad and Pearl, he felt like everything was just going wrong. Whenever there had been problems before, he’d been able to fix them, by getting Dad and Pearl to go on the trip together, or helping Amethyst work through her issues, or helping Peridot and Lapis work out there issues, but now…

Now with everyone upset about mom being back, he’d been planning how to get Ruby and Sapphire back together, get Amethyst to stop running away from Pearl whenever she saw her, talk to Bismuth about her issues, and work with Dad and Pearl, but now all of that was a mess. Dad and Pearl were talking about taking him out of danger, leaving him on the sidelines like a kid again, and they weren’t letting him help them! They were focused on him, and worried about him, and nothing he did or said made them feel better the entire car ride home and then he’d yelled at them and-

He stopped, catching his breath as he stared up at the sky in his mom's room in the temple.  _ I don’t get it. We went to the doctor, we got the appointment with the therapist, I’m going to school… they should be happy! We’ve got a plan, we’re fixing stuff, and I know why I feel hurt when I get hit! Why do they have to act like this is a big deal? I healed instantly, and the therapist will help me with the problems in my mind, so why won’t they listen when I say I’m fine?  _ He wondered, sighing as he watched the pink clouds float by above him.

_ Maybe I just have to show them that I’m still fine. Yeah, that’s it! If I fix Ruby and Sapphires relationship, and get Amethyst to talk to Pearl again, and make friends with Bismuth, they’ll see that I’m still Steven, the great kid who helps everyone! Then they’ll understand that they were making a big deal about it, and then everything will go back to normal, except better because Mom’s alive!  _ Steven thought, a sense of determination running through him as he leapt to his feet.

“Room! Can you give me one of those tube thingies that’ll get me to Sapphire or Ruby’s rooms?” He asked, and nearby the clouds parted to reveal a large crystal tube. “Thank you!” Steven shouted as he clambered onto the tube, sliding down and out of his mother's room. Holding on despite the twists and turns, he felt the air grow colder, and when the tube opened into a blue-tinted room he recognized as Sapphire’s, he gave off a woop of joy…

Before splashing down in a fountain full of water only a degree above freezing.

“Ahhhh! Cold cold cold!”

“Steven.” Sapphire said as she grabbed his arm and pulled him out. “You made it. Here, have a nice warm towel.” She said as she wrapped it around him, beginning to dry him off.

“Oh, thanks Sapphire! Did your future vision tell you I was going to come down? Do you know what I’m here to talk to you about?” He asked excitedly as the small blue gem shook her head.

“No Steven, I... haven’t been looking into the future that much recently. I put the towel warmer there after you told us you could get into the crystal arteries through your mothers room. Garnet could tell that you would try to visit me one day.” Sapphire replied, tensing up a little at the mention of Stevens mother and Garnet.

“Ohhh… wait, why aren’t you using your future vision? Are you hurt, is something wrong? Do we have to go on a quest to a sacred peak to complete a ritual to renew your powers?” Steven asked, voice filled with excitement as he dried off.

“No Steven, it’s not that simple. Whenever I look into the future, I see my mistakes. No matter what I do, I can’t predict how to make things up to Ruby, and I just keep making everything worse when I apologize. So I stayed here, where I won’t hurt her anymore, until… until I can figure out how to apologize to her for what I said.” She replied, tears starting to trickle down her face.

“Sapphire, you can’t just stay inside and not talk to her! She probably feels like you’re ignoring her-”

“I KNOW!” Came the emotional cry from the blue gem. “I know that Steven, but if I go out there, more often then not I hurt her even more! And what to do to get the good futures is so unclear, it keeps changing and sometimes it works and then I try again and it doesn’t and… and… and…” she crumpled to her knees, her hands over her face as she sobbed into them. “This is all my fault. I couldn’t control my temper and now-”

“Hey, Sapphire it’s ok!” Steven said, trying to assure her as he wrapped his arms around her. “We can still fix this! I’m sure if you just explained everything to Ruby and apologized, it’ll be fine! She loves you.” He said, causing Sapphire to look up at him and ask:

“How could she? After what I said to her…”

“You two have been together for thousands of years! She isn’t going to let one little argument change that! I mean, I just saw her...” He trailed off, unsure when the last time he’d seen Ruby had been. “Uhhh… uh oh. Ok, so it’s been a couple days, I’m sure she’s just in her room. Why don’t you just wait here, and I’ll go get her? That way you can talk this out and it’ll all be fine.”

Sapphire nodded through her tears. “Alright… it can’t be worse than sitting here alone.”

Steven nodded as he turned back to the tube. “Exactly! Now just give me a minute…” he said as he jumped and missed the entrance, hard to see in the shadowy roof of Sapphire's mansion-like room. After a few failed tries, he heard Sapphire step up to him.

“Steven, just go out through the door.”

“...I’d rather not.” Steven admitted quietly, knowing Dad and Pearl were likely still there.

“Why not…?” Sapphire asked curiously. “Is there something wrong?”

“No!” Staven said as he managed to use his floating powers to grab a hold of the tube. “It’s all fine Sapphire, don’t worry about it, just wait here and I’ll get Ruby!”

“Steven-” he heard her voice cut off as he climbed back up through the tubes. Re-entering his mothers room, he asked for a tube down to Ruby’s room and took it, entering… a log cabin made out of literal red wood. There was no major wall of fire, or anything else relating to her fire powers, just a few torches and a fireplace for light. It was as if she had one day long ago taken a look at a log cabin, made her room look like that, then never changed it. The walls looked solid, the space was neat, and all in all it looked like the room was rarely lived it, much like Sapphires. Hitting the ground, he stood up and said “Hello! Ruby? It’s Steven, I just wanted to come by and see if you were ok!”

“Over here!” Ruby said. She was sitting at a small desk which was covered, absolutely covered, with comic books of all types.

“Oh! Hey Ruby, I didn’t know you liked comics.” Steven said as he walked up to her.

“What, these? Greg gave them to me, said they might help me feel better.”

Steven felt a wave of discomfort as she mentioned his father. “Well, is it helping?” He asked her as he stepped up to the desk.

“Oh yeah! It’s been great, I’ve been figuring out what I like, without having to worry about if Sapphire likes it. I feel like I can finally be my own gem!” Ruby said with a smile as Steven began to freak out.

“Bu… but you aren’t going to stay here forever, right? I mean… you and Sapphire had a fight, and you shouldn’t just avoid each other! You should talk it out, understand each other and stuff.”

“If Sapphire wants to do that, she can come talk to me.” Ruby replied as she flipped a page of her book. 

“Ruby, you haven’t been out of your room in days! Plus, she’s been saying the same thing about you!” Steven said, staring at the small red gem as a realization hit him. “Wait, you’ve just been sitting in here reading comics for days? I mean you don’t need to eat or sleep or anything so that makes sense but still!”

Ruby turned to him, blinking in confusion. “Days? No, it hasn’t been days, it’s only been…” she trailed off as she looked for a clock. “Actually, it might have been days.” She said as she realized there was no way to tell time in her room.

“It has, and we’re all worried about you Ruby, you had a big fight and just disappeared...”

“I told Greg where I was going!” She replied as she got out of her desk. “And besides, maybe I wanted to spend days reading comics! I’m my own gem, and I like being able to do what I like without having to worry if Sapphire likes it too!”

“What? But you and Sapphire are so perfect together as Garnet! Don’t you miss being her?” Steven asked, panic seeping into his voice as he talked.

“Well… yeah.” Ruby admitted with a blush. “But I don’t want things to go back to how they were before, with us not unfusing for years… I like being my own gem sometimes.”

Steven relaxed as he heard her words. “That’s completely fine Ruby. You can enjoy being independent while still being in a relationship! I mean, Connie’s parents love each other, and they have their own jobs and stuff, and that’s ok! You don’t have to give up your independence to be with Sapphire, and you don’t have to give up being with Sapphire to be independent.” He assured her with a smile, thankful that he finally had a nice simple problem to help other people with.

“Yeah, I guess you’re right. I just… how can I ask Sapphire to change up our relationship? I mean…” she trailed off as she picked up one of her comics. “I’ve got it!”

  


\-----

  


Steven could barely contain his excitement as they climbed back into Sapphires room. “This is going to be amazing Ruby! Sapphire is going to love it, it’s so romantic and a great way to show your relationship is still strong…” he stops as he looks around the cool blue room, Sapphire nowhere to be found. “Sapphire! Sapphire!” He called.

“Over here Steven.” Her voice called from the sidelines, and Steven lead Ruby over to her.

“Sapphire! Ruby has something to say to you-”

“Steven, I talked to Pearl and Greg.” Sapphire cut him off, and Steven felt his blood run cold at her words. 

“Whaaaaa? Steven, what’s going on?” Ruby asked as he paled.

“Ruby!? Oh no Ruby I’m so sorry, I thought Steven was alone!” Sapphire said.

“Sapphy why is Steven freaking out?”

“It’s fine, it can wait until later.” Steven assured Ruby as Sapphire nodded.

“Yes, there’s so much I have to say to you, I’m so sorry for everything I said, can you ever forgive me?”

Ruby blinked, feeling a bit of emotional whiplash at how Sapphire changed the subject. “Sapphire, I’ve had a lot of time to think about this and…” She braced herself for what she was going to say next. “Our relationship… it’s been hurt, but we can rebuild it, better than before! But we can’t just go back to being Garnet all the time. I like my independence, and being my own gem, and I’d like to do that while knowing I can go back to you, and we can form Garnet again then.” She said, a speech that sounded incredibly similar to one in the comic she’d been reading when Steven found her.

“Oh Ruby!” Sapphire cried, nodding as she embraced her lover. “Of course we can! I’m so sorry if you ever felt like I was forcing you to be Garnet, I just love you and being with you and-”

“No Sapphy, you never made me be Garnet, she’s not that type of fusion.” Ruby responded. “Garnet is our love, and I was thinking… maybe we could do something special to show how much we love each other before we fuse again?”

“What did you have in mind?” Sapphire asks, smiling as she enjoyed the fiery gems touch. 

“Well…” Ruby trailed off as she stepped back and fell to one knee. “Sapphire, I was hoping… will you marry me?” She asked, hope in her eyes as she looked up at the stunned seer.

“Will I… Oh Ruby yes!” Sapphire shouted as she wrapped Ruby into a large hug. The two collapsed into a pile of emotions and laughter as Steven watched, a smile on his face at how they had worked things out. Soon enough though, the two stood up and smile, hand in hand as they walk towards the door.

“Are you coming Steven? We’re gonna tell everyone the good news!” Ruby asked, and despite Sapphire’s look, and the sinking feeling in his gut, Steven nodded.

“Yeah, they all could use some good news around now, it’ll be nice for everyone to see that you’re doing alright.” Steven answered as he followed them out. Walking back into the beach house, he saw Pearl cleaning the dishes, his dad nowhere to be seen, and let out a small sigh of relief. “Hey Pearl! Guess what!” He shouted, burying his emotions under a wave of excitement and joy.

“Steven, you’re back… and with Ruby and Sapphire!” she answered, a small strain on her face as she was torn between genuine happiness to see two of her oldest friends happy again and the lingering bad feelings from her earlier talk with Steven. “Are you two…?”

“WE’RE GETTING MARRIED!” Ruby shouted at the top of her lungs, flames sprouting up under her feet as Sapphire sprayed her down with the fire extinguisher, having apparently gotten enough confidence in her future vision to see that coming.

“Oh! Well congratulations to both of you, I’m so happy for you two!” Pearl said, genuinely happy at the news. “I’m so happy you were able to work things out, and I cannot wait to see how you two look on your special day.”

As Pearl, Ruby, and Sapphire began to talk, Steven leaned back and smiled. The awkwardness from earlier was gone, no one was worrying about him, and Garnet would be coming back soon enough. Maybe this would be enough to get Pearl off his back about the revelations at the doctors office.

  


\-----

  


Pink Diamond sighed as she looked over Iolite’s report. The small purple gem was a hard worker, and her reports were detailed and to the point, but in this report there were a lot of sections that basically could be summed up as “I have no idea how you even managed to pull this out, especially without a lab”. The initial results of her review of the data on humans from the zoo had given her a baseline for her research on human-gem hybrids, but the sheer lack of anything even approaching research into the subject had left her with more questions than answers. The rest of the report, the parts on how gem production and how it hurt organic life, were more detailed, but she felt defeated by just how little information they had about either subject.

“Well Iolite, thank you for your help, I only wish there was more for you to give me. Perhaps your visit to Earth later this week will provide you with more information” She said, trying to hide her disappointment as she realized that nothing she was working on would be ready for months, not the hybrid project, not the damage reduction, not any of it. The realization was heavy enough that when Iolite stepped out of the room, she placed her head in her hands and sighed.  _ These are all things I should have done the last time around, but I was to young, to stupid. I just ran off on an adventure and millions suffered because of me. No matter what I do, it’ll be decades before I can ever not feel this guilt for what I’ve done- _

Her emo thoughts were interrupted by a springy pink gem bouncing up to her. “Hey Pink! How are you doing?” She asked, a wide smile on her face as she snapped her Diamond out of her funk.

“Hello Spinel, I’m… well I’m not fine, but there’s not much else I can do to feel better other than keep moving forward, and maybe in a few years I’ll have moved forward enough that I’ll be able to be proud of what I’ve done.” She answered, still feeling sort of sick at the sheer scale of the task in front of her.

Spinel nodded, patting her on the back as she gave her a wide smile. “Well, you’ve already done a lot, and now you’ve got plenty of time to make things better. And no matter what, you’ve got people behind you, even if they can’t be with you all the time.”

Pink smiled down at her oldest surviving friend. “Thank you Spinel, it means a lot that you’re willing to help me with this.”

“No problem Pink! I’m a big fan of a lot of your ideas, including the ones about not having to obey your Diamonds every order.” Spinel said, a flippant remark that cut Pink like a knife as she remembered the way she’d abandoned her in the garden.

“Yeah… it’s a nice dream.” She answered, turning back to the growing pile of paperwork. “Maybe it’ll become real one day…” With that, Pink Diamond returned to work, slugging forward step by step, burying the pain of her regrets under the constant strain of her workload, determined to keep moving forward as much as possible so the ghosts of the past could never catch her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, the Ruby/Sapphire proposal scene... I'm going to be honest, I have no experience writing romance, so let me know how that scene flowed. I don't have a beta or anything for this story, so the only way I get feedback is when I hit post, and this is one of those scenes I wish I had a beta for.
> 
> Beyond that, just as a heads up, the next few chapters are going to focus on Steven, mainly because Future aired and ended while I was making the plan for the next couple arcs, and that influenced what was on my mind. Pink and her court will still show up, and hopefully for longer than in this one, but it will focus on Steven and Earth for a while.


	32. Aftermath 3

Things had changed a lot in Beach City over the last week. The Crystal Gems had been shaken by a revelation, dozens of Homeworld Quartzes had shown up and were just hanging out in town, and local hometown hero Steven Universe was no longer fighting monsters. At least, not the external type. His internal monsters were much less flashy as he fought them though, so none of the townspeople noticed his fights as he wandered through the streets.

He was walking through the streets, his eyes darting back and forth as he slipped into a garage covered by a tarp. “Amethyst? Are you here?” He whispered.

“Nah, she’s not here kid.” Vidalia responded, giving him a soft smile as she turned away from her painting. “She’s been hanging out with those sisters of hers, they’ve been going crazy in town now that the boss is away. Stopped by a few times, each time bringing in another group to introduce me to, no idea how she expects me to remember them all but she’s happier than she was when that ship was here, so that’s something.”

Steven blinks and nods at her words. “Oh, well… that’s good.” He said, awkwardly realizing that the rest of the people who remembered Rose would be asking questions if they heard Pink talk. “So… I’m gonna go find her…” He said as he slowly backed out of the room.

“When you do, tell her to stop by! I’ve got some questions about what the he- what the heck just happened.” Vidalia called after him as he left. Turning down the street, Steven continued through the town, determined to track down Amethyst. At the sound of gems laughing and a flash of purple, he thought he’d found her, turning to give chase.

Following them through the streets with high speed, he turned to the boardwalk and saw, in front of the fry shack… a trio of larger Amethysts, with no sign of the diminutive gem he had grown up with. One of them waved to him, and he waved back with a sinking feeling in his gut. The new Amethysts had been… interesting as they integrated into the town and got used to free humans, and Steven wished he could have taken more time to help Amethyst show them around, but he had to many issues that needed to be handled earlier. Now that he was doing his best to avoid Pearl and Dad so they couldn’t baby him and treat him like he was a little kid who couldn’t make his own decisions, he had plenty of free time!

The fact that avoiding your parental figures because they were treating you like a little kid was a stereotypical little kid move was lost on Steven due to his lack of exposure to mainstream culture.

As he continued through the streets, he found himself pondering what effects the arrival of all these new gems on Earth would have on the people of Beach City. With the way they acted towards humans, and the way they were basically treating this whole thing like a giant vacation was actually putting many of the people at ease as they got used to just treating these interlopers like spring break college students: According to Peedee they had about as much money and regard for others property as that specific brand of tourist, although they didn’t get drunk or pass out on the boardwalk so that made them better.

As he mused over this, he turned a corner and caught a glimpse of Amethyst sitting on a bench by herself, staring out over the sea. “Amethyst!” He called as he walked up to her with a smile as she chowed down on… a stack of paper fry containers?  _ Well it’s not the strangest thing she’s eaten  _ he thinks as she waves back at him.

“Yo Ste-man! How’s it going?” She asks with a wide grin on her face.

“Well, it’s just that you haven’t been around much recently and I wanted to talk to you. Things have been… well they’ve been a bit awkward and stuff around the house and temple.” Steven said, watching as a small look of regret flashed over Amethyst’s face before she got a serious look and patted the bench next to her, inviting him to sit next to her.

“Yeahhhh.. I’ve been catching up with the famethyst, it’s been a good time. Sorry for leaving you alone there man, I guess things just got a bit much around the house with… well you know.” She said with a pained expression. “If things are getting awkward I can bring you out with me, introduce you to my sisters!”

Steven blinked at her offer, feeling incredibly conflicted by it. “Well, that sounds nice but… you’re not going to be gone forever, right? I mean, one of these days everyone’s going to get over all of this and we’ll be able to be a family again the way we were… right?” He said, his inner emotions beginning to spill out as he confided in Amethyst the same way she’d confided in him before, their sibling-like relationship letting him tell her what he couldn’t tell anyone else.

Amethyst turned to look at him, sadness on her face as she placed a hand on his shoulder. “Well, yeah maybe in a while, I just… you know how everyone got when  _ she  _ came back, with Garnet unfusing and Pearl knew about it but couldn’t tell us and… I just need a bit of time to myself, alright? We’re still family, the Crystal Gems are just, you know, going through a rough patch. We’ll be fine once we’ve all had some time.” She did her best to assure him, skirting the edges of her feelings as she talked to him.  _ Steven I love you man, but I don’t need you meddling right now while I’m trying to figure things out right now.  _ Amethyst thought but did not say, trying to keep her feelings under control as she avoided giving Steven a reason to meddle in her life before changing the topic. “Speaking of feelings, how are yours doing? I know Greg and Pearl took you out of town yesterday, the others complained about how they were supposed to guard you if you just drove away like that. So where did you go, what happened?”

Her diversion worked far better than she could have known, striking the still raw wounds in Steven’s psyche. “I… we went to the hospital.” He said as he brought his knees up to his chin and curled in on himself on the bench, setting off warning bells through Amethysts mind as he continued to talk. “Apparently when I take hard hits, my body actually breaks and I just heal it super fast, Connie’s mom showed me an X-ray of my body, and apparently like all of my bones are covered in fractures.”

“Wait, seriously?” Amethyst asked with a squeak. “Did it… did you feel pain when you got those fractures?” She asked, dreading his answer as she remembered their duel for the title of ‘worst Crystal Gem’ in the sky arena.

“Yeah, it hurt, but I just figured that was normal. You guys did that all the time and none of you complained about pain.”

“Steven, that’s horrible! You should have told us we were hurting you!”

“Amethyst you didn’t hurt me…” Steven trailed off as he saw the tears in her eyes.

“Dude, I hit you into a stone pillar. Now, I need you to be honest with me, did I hurt you during that fight?” Steven stared at her as she placed her hands on his shoulders, looking him in the eye before slowly nodding. “Steven, I-” she wrapped her arms around him. “Dude I’m so sorry, if you’d told me I was hurting you I would have stopped the fight, I would have stopped being so rough with you, or-”

“You’d stop treating me like a Crystal Gem.” Came the whispered reply, cutting off her regretful speech as he pushed her back. “Amethyst, being one of you guys is all I’ve ever wanted out of my life! I grew up being told that I’d be able to go on missions with you, to take my Mom’s place, and I didn’t want to let a little pain stop me. I knew what I wanted, and I wasn’t going to just let you all tell me I should stay back and sit around waiting for you to come home again like when I was a kid!”

“Steven, you are a kid! You’re 14 for crying out loud, I know Pearl doesn’t know what that means for humans but I do! When I thought you were just having fun fighting like me I figured it was a good way for you to spend time with us, but if you’re actually in pain-”

“It’s only when I get hit! I have the shield, and the bubble, I just won’t get hit! Then I won’t get any more injuries on my body or mind.” He tried to reassure her, desperate to get the conversation back under control as he let slip another detail.

“Wait, your mind is getting hurt!?” Amethyst asked, shock on her face as tears formed in her eyes.

“It’s fine! I have an appointment with a therapist, they’ll fix my mind and it’ll be all better. Sure, Doctor Maheswaran said it might take a while, but I watch a lot of ‘Under the Knife’, I know how long people take to recover from bad injuries. I’ll be fine in a couple months, no problem!” Steven said with confidence, having apparently taken the wrong lessons between the doctors’ comparison of physical wounds and mental trauma.

Amethyst meanwhile didn’t know enough about mental issues to dispute that claim, but something about it felt off to her. “Steven, just because you get those wounds healed doesn’t mean they didn’t happen!”

“But Amethyst, you get hurt all the time and no one tries to stop you from going on missions! Why are you all trying to take this away from me!?”

“I’m not trying to take anything away from you, I just want you to not get hurt!”

“Why don’t you worry about yourself and not me? Everyone’s always been worrying about me, when I’m not the one who’s been acting like Mo- Pink’s visit was the end of the world! You ran off, Garnet split up, Dad and Pearl freaked out… if you don’t want to hurt me, then why don’t you all stop tearing this family apart!?” Steven screamed, his pent up frustration at the gem's reaction to his mom coming back spilling out at once. He’d always dreamed that he would be able to talk to her, and the fact that what should have been a happy time as the woman everyone in the Crystal Gems loved ended up tearing them apart and upending the status quo of his life was weighing on him. For all he tended to be the emotional heart of the Crystal Gems, Steven wasn’t perfect, and the sheer amount of emotions he had within him came out at once with that question.

As soon as the words left his mouth, he knew he’d made a mistake. Amethyst stared at him in muted horror as he fumbled for a response. “Not- I didn’t mean you! Not really!” He tried to assure her, his words hollow as his heart raced, his mind straining under the emotional weight.  _ This isn’t right! I’m Steven, I don’t yell at people, I don’t make things worse!  _ He thought as he panicked, tears streaking down his face as he realized what he’d done.  _ I hurt Amethyst, just like I hurt Dad and Pearl! I was just trying to fix everyone and now  _ ** _I’m the problem! Everyone would just be better if I left! _ **

With those words, his body began to glow, his gem struggling to help him fight off the threat his brain was telling it existed. Pulling on powers his mother had rarely if ever used as Rose Quartz, Steven ran away before he noticed the look of shock on Amethysts face as his body turned neon pink, and as he ran into the hills and left Beach City behind, he didn’t stop to notice how the people, animals, cars, and everything else seemed to move much slower as he ran past them trailing pink light.

He ran far away, climbing the hills outside of town as he moved through trees. Eventually, he found himself panting out of breath on a hill. Collapsing on the ground, he cried heavily, his body heaving as his emotions ran wild.  _ Why can’t everything just be simple and easy like it used to be? Why do I keep doing this to myself, making everything worse because of my feelings. If I was more mature I’d be able to handle them like mom, she had to deal with worse stuff for thousands of years and never let it show, I’m just a failure and they’re going to kick me out of the Crystal Gems and- _

“Steven!” He heard a voice call as something landed on the grass next to him. Turning, he looked up at the blue form of Lapis Lazuli. “Steven, what are you doing crying out here all by yourself?” She asked, concern in her eyes as she kneeled down next to him.

“I… I messed up. I was talking to Amethyst, and I said something I shouldn’t have, and now I don’t know what to do.” He replied, his voice a soft whisper as he looked up at the blue gem, slowly pulling himself to his feet. “I can’t… I can’t go back to the temple right now, she’ll have told Dad and Pearl and they were all so happy about Ruby and Sapphire getting married and I ruined it!”

Lapis nodded, giving him a sympathetic look as she took his hand. “Hey, I don’t really know what you did or said, but I understand not wanting to go somewhere. If you need some space, me and Peridot were just about to start up a new show from the tapes Connie gave her.”

Steven sniffed and wiped his tears, taking her hand as she began to walk. To his amazement, he’d ended up just down the hill from the barn she and Peridot were living in, as if his body was steering him towards this destination as he ran. Or more likely because this is the only place outside of Beach City he regularly visits that’s in running distance and muscle memory took over.

“You don’t have to tell me anything, but running away from your problems never works. Trust me, no matter where you go, they follow you.” Lapis said, cutting into his thoughts with her words, a sad look on her face as she spoke from experience before giving him a reassuring look. “But, sometimes if you put enough distance between you and them you can get a good look at them, and then they seem less scary. You helped me with my problems, and if you want any help with yours I will help you. And I’m sure Peridot will say the same.” The blue gem said as they crested the hill, her words helping to calm the emotionally fragile boy.

As the pair approached the barn and Peridot came running out like an excited gremlin to greet them, Steven felt a genuine smile form on his face. Despite the craziness and emotions of Beach City, now he was finally with friends who weren’t affected by his moms return, or worried about his mental health, and could just let him relax with them.  _ Maybe I can just stay here until it’s time for my appointment with the therapist, I have my phone so I can tell Dad and the gems where I am, and I’m sure they’ve got something to eat up here… _

Steven continued to plan his stay with Peridot and Lapis even as his phone filled with messages, the device set to silent and unable to warn him that, back in Beach City, his family was beginning to panic as they realized just how hurt he was.

As Steven sat down with two of his friends and began to watch a show, dozens of Quartz soldiers rushed out of the town and into the hills, followed by a Pearl and human driving a van with a Ruby, Sapphire, and one final Amethyst riding in the back. The tension flowed out of Steven’s body as he laughed alongside Lapis and Peridot, petting their pet Pumpkin, as a high-priority message was carried by a lone skinny Jasper through the warp network to the Galaxy Warp, and from there to the newest Diamond Colony, that of the returned Pink Diamond.

Climbing the steps as fast as her small form could handle them, she shouted at gems large and small to get out of her way, propriety and etiquette gone as she carried an important message for her Diamond. If this had happened in a week, the special communicators Pink had commissioned would have been emplaced in Pinks throne and the temple on Earth, but as it was the news of a mess on Earth was delayed, trusted to a short note that contained no details out of fear of spreading the secret of Steven’s mother’s true identity.

When Pink Diamond was interrupted from another boring dispute between her court members by the Jasper bursting into her throne room, she felt a sense of relief at the end to her boredom followed by a growing sense of dread as she recognized the gem and where she had been assigned, and her next words put her even more on edge. “My Diamond! Emergency message from Earth!” She shouted as guards moved to block her path.

In a flash, Pink was off her throne, pushing her guards to the side as she grabbed the message from the Jaspers hands and read the three words written in a sloppy caricature of Pearls normally neat handwriting.

_ Steven is missing _

For a moment, everything froze. The cries of her upset court faded into the background, muffled as her senses were filled with those three words. They weren’t the worst words that could have been written on the paper, but they were enough.

“Sway, get my personal guard moving! We’re heading to Earth now!” She shouted at the Pink Lace Agate who she had last seen beside her throne, pausing for a brief moment in guilt as she realized the gem had moved with her and she had yelled in her face before turning around and barking more orders, panic overriding every other emotion as she decided she had no time to walk down the stairs of her spire-palace and smashed through a window overlooking the warp pad, leaping out and trusting her powers and durability to preserve her as she dropped to the ground below.

_ Hang on Steven, I’m coming. _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, I'm going to be 100% honest with you all: this chapter was hard for me to write. I loved Steven's arc in Future, but it turns out I'm just not good at writing that sort of feeling, even if he isn't as bad here. I managed to make it through and get it done, but I understand that this isn't one of my stronger chapters. The good news about this is that Steven at this age has a lot fewer issues to work through, and he's less adept at hiding them from the people around him than he is by Future, so things are going to come to a head rapidly. Some of you may be wondering how this squares with my note from last week that the next few chapters will cover Steven, and the answer is that after Aftermath we will have a three or four update long section called "Recovery" which covers Steven as he starts to attend therapy, starts attending (summer) school, and learns to handle his emotions in a healthy manner with the support of his family.
> 
> Before that, we have one or two more updates for Aftermath, and they are going to be emotional, so brace yourself for my inept attempts at writing emotional scenes.
> 
> Thank you all for reading, your comments sustain my interest in writing this fic and I feel happy whenever I get another one.


	33. Chapter 33

After an episode of some new show, a comedy show set at a fictional “Camp Campbell” that Peridot spent the entire time comparing to Camp Pining Hearts, Steven was finally feeling better. Lapis and Peridot had been understanding, never pushing him to explain anything about what had happened or demanding he tell them how he felt, they just sat together and watched the show, laughing as the campers attempt to escape the camp was foiled when they crashed the camp bus into an FBI van carrying agents investigating the camps owner. Leaning back, feeling Lapis shift on the bean bag, not touching him but also close enough if he needed a hug, Steven finally felt safe enough to smile.

“You guys are great, thanks for letting me stay here.”

“No problem Steven, you can stay here as long as you like.” Lapis replied.

“Yeah, you should visit more often! We could make this into a regular thing, maybe do it before the inspection I will be performing each week on your body!” Peridot mentioned, causing Steven to tense up. Lapis fixed Peridot with a quick look, resting a hand on Steven’s shoulder.

“It’s ok, we don’t have to think about that now. You can just stay here for a couple days or so.” 

“Thanks Lapis.” Steven said, grateful for her understanding. “I should tell Dad and the Gems where I’m staying…” his voice trailed off as he pulled out his phone and saw how many missed messages and calls he had. “Uh oh” he said, picking it up and calling his Dad back.”

“STEVEN! Oh thank goodness you’re ok! Where are you?” His dad’s voice came, worry and relief mixing as the gems voices filled the background, asking “is that Steven?” “Is he ok?” and other questions like that.

“Dad! Dad I’m fine, I’m… I’m staying with Lapis and Peridot, we’re watching tv shows and stuff.”

“Oh, oh you’re at the barn? Alright, just hang tight, we’ll be there-”

“No.”

“... Steven?” his Dad’s voice was cautious as he took in Steven’s answer, and Steven got the feeling that he was on speakerphone as he heard the other gems in the background.

“Can you just… Lapis and Peridot said I could stay here for a while, and I know you want to help me but… but I can’t deal with being helped. It’s like I’m a little kid again, and everyone else knows what’s best for me and-” he cut himself off as he began to ramble, his momentary vulnerability replaced with his standard expression as he surpressed his emotions.

“...Steven, if you really need some time away, we’ll respect that. Just answer your phone going forward, alright?” His Dad asked as Pearl let out an actual squawk of indignation in response and Amethyst screamed “WHAT!?”

“Thanks Dad, I’ll do that.” Steven said, hanging up and ending the call. Lapis gave him a supportive thumbs up as she relaxed on the bean bag, while Peridot looked like she wanted to ask a question but changed her mind when she saw Lapis give a slight shake of her head. The trio sat down and returned to their show, bringing up the next episode even as miles away a van full of gems driven by a human was turned around as an argument engulfed it.

\-----

Pink Diamond was confused. She’d rushed to Earth, her guards flooding out of the warp into the beach house… only to find no one there. They burst out of the house and ran along the beach, searching both for Steven and someone to tell them what the heck was going on. As they combed the town, worry began to grow in her as the minutes went on. A small purple shape ran through the street towards her, and for a moment hope filled her as she thought Amethyst had come to tell them what was going on…

But it was Iolite, the inquisitive purple gem frazzled from the fast run after the towering quartzes, her shorter stature meaning she had to push much harder to get anywhere near as fast as them. “My Diamond, what is going on? I saw your guards running to Earth and one of them said I should come with them. What is happening?” She asked as she brushed herself off, sand falling off as her form went back into shape.

“Steven is missing.” Pink said simply, gesturing to the town around them she did, upset and confused that no one was there to tell them what was going on and where to start looking. Even the gems she’d left behind had vanished, presumably to search the nearby countryside, without leaving anyone behind to coordinate the search, something that would not be allowed to happen again if this situation occurred twice.

Iolite nodded, taking in the scene quickly as she did. “How advanced is the human communication network?” She asked, a plan formulating in her head.

Pink blinked a few times before responding. “Uhhhmmm… it’s decent? I know they have phones, which are like voice only communicators…”

“Perfect!” Iolite replied. “In that case, I will seek out a human with such a device and attempt to make contact with that human ‘Greg’ so he can update us on the search.” She told Pink, who nodded and gave her approval. Turning around, the small purple gem began to walk through the town, searching for a human. Fortunately for her, not only were there plenty of them around, but it was easy to find one allowing her to communicate with Greg and learn that Steven had been located, but was refusing to return to the town.

After informing her Diamond of this development, Iolite hurriedly handed over the communication device and stood next to the human, a female with strange yellow hair, and attempted to figure out how to properly apologize for the destruction of her “cellphone”, as her Diamond was becoming more and more agitated by the moment.

“He said  _ what _ ? He turned solid pink and ran away?” She asked with her eyes wide, not caring as the rest of the nearby gems looked on with alarm and Iolite began preparing a story about how hybrids' abilities can sometimes evolve beyond those of the gem they were made with. Her Diamond seemed to calm down a bit after that, speaking in a hushed voice before handing the device back to Iolite. Turning to the commander of her guard, she gave orders, sending some of her guard to retrieve the gems who had joined the search as she moved through the town, followed by Iolite and the core of her guards.

On the outskirts of Beach City, Pink stood with Iolite and Sway and waited, anxious energy running through her as she watched Greg’s van drive up, her loose circle of guards far enough away to not hear what was said but close enough to be able to respond if their paranoid Agate decides it’s needed. Speaking of Sway, the Pink Lace Agate was clearly not happy with this situation, especially the response the local garrison had had towards the crisis, muttering under her breath about all the drills she was going to make them run in response to this crisis.

Pink pushed the sound of the muttering Agate out of her mind as Greg stepped out of the van, a desire to rush forward and comfort him tempered by the fact that she needed to keep up appearances in public. After all, the more gems who knew the truth, the farther it could spread. “Hello, I apologize for my earlier outburst, but I am… concerned about the reported actions of Rose Quartz’s son.” She said, a 100% truthful statement that had widely different meanings if one knew the truth or not.

“Well… you see… humans sometimes have emotional issues where they just need to get away from things for a while, and Steven had one of those incidents. He had a hard time recently after his trip to the doctor, and he’s been having some issues since before his… discussion with Amethyst.” Greg explained, trying to assure all the concerned gems that this situation was fine and totally not completely out of control, a trait he shared with his son.

“Well, what now? Do we just… leave him there, wait for him to get over it?” Pink asked, concern filling her as she said those words, upset by the notion that she should just leave her son alone after he’d just had a major breakdown.  _ I won’t be leaving him alone, he has that Lapis Lazuli and Peridot with him, they care about him and won’t let him be hurt.  _ She tried to assure herself.

“Well... “ Greg rubbed the back of his neck and pulled out his phone. “Maybe he’d be willing to speak with you? Just so you can check in and make sure he’s doing alright?” He offered, doing his best to keep the situation under control as the nearby gems focused on him while Pink seized on the offer, taking the phone… and then needing Greg to show her how the human technology worked.

The phone rang for a few moments before Steven’s face popped up on the screen. “Dad I… oh, hello.” He said as he saw Pink on the other end, the Diamond sighing in relief.

“Steven, it’s good to see you again. I came as soon as I heard you were missing.” She said, unspoken tension draining from her as she spoke, soon replaced as she noticed how he was responding.

“Oh… sorry for bothering you.” He said, curling in on himself as if he was afraid of what she was going to say next. Her next words died on her lips as she saw this expression, and she realized something was terribly wrong with her son.

“Steven… when you are ready, I think we need to have a discussion, just the two of us, and… go over a few things. You really worried me, and I want to make sure you are alright.” As she made her request, she watched him tense up even more, confusion running through her as she tried to understand why having someone check that he was alright was putting him on edge. In the end though, he nodded and murmured a soft “ok” to her. After that, she was at a loss for words and simply told him she would speak to him later. Passing the phone to Greg, she felt her emotions threaten to overwhelm her.

Looking around, Iolite wanted to be anywhere but here. Her Diamond was in discussions with the rebels and the human about the wellbeing of the hybrid…  _ Steven  _ was his name, and he had shown behavior apparently far more in line with that of a human than a gem, despite his nature as a hybrid and time spent in the presence of gems. It was curious, and as she considered what was happening she felt herself growing even more curious about humanity. Their society defied nearly every assumption she had engrained in her since her creation, and the way they dealt with situations like this where any normal gem would be punished harshly by instead simply giving the problematic individual what they wanted was unnerving, but also intriguing.

“Well… we kind of just have to leave him alone, don’t we? I mean… What else can we do?” the small Ruby was asking as her Diamond backed away, concern on her face. Iolite could tell that Pink was upset by what had happened, by not being here to do anything, and she was confused as well. Many other gems wouldn’t notice the signs, but she did, she had seen her Diamond confused before.  _ My purpose is to investigate. My Diamond may believe that we are not bound by what we were created to do, but I enjoy it, I am good at it, and now… now I can help put her mind at ease with it. _

“My Diamond, perhaps I can assist with this? Part of my assignment is investigation of the hybrid, perhaps I should remain here and learn about him as a part of that?” She suggested, drawing attention to herself as the rest of the entourage focused on her. “Additionally, as you could likely tell from my last report my ability to study human culture is drastically lowered when I am away from this world.”

“I suppose you’re right about that…” Pink said, blinking as she considered Iolite’s request. “Just, just don’t push him, he’ll talk when he’s ready and when he does I’ll be only a few warps away… is there anything else to cover?” She asked, looking around as she realized that it was time to go back. Her trip was to short for her to enjoy being on Earth again, did not fulfill its goals, left her down a member of her inner circle at her colony, and worst of all had her leaving while feeling sick to her stomach. She wanted to trust Greg on this and he said giving Steven space was the right call, and she knew the feeling of wanting to run away and not face your problems so she knew from experience that chasing him down could be a problem… but despite all that, as the light engulfed her and she left the Earth behind again, she couldn’t help but feel that something was terribly wrong.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You might have noticed this chapter was shorter than usual, and I have a very good reason for that: The quarantine drove me insane and then the new XCOM game came out and I was busy, so when I realized that it was Friday and the chapter was half done I found a dividing point near the end of what I had completed and split the chapter in two.
> 
> Also, the show they are watching is a real show called Camp Camp, if you haven't watched it it's great. It's on Youtube to, so that's even better.
> 
> Anyway, have a good week, next week I promise we will see Pink meet up with Steven to discuss their issues. See you then!


	34. Aftermath 5

For Steven Universe, spending time at the barn with Lapis and Peridot was just the break he needed. They didn’t worry about him the way the Crystal Gems or his dad did, if something in one of their shows made him tense up and have a minor freak out, they didn’t stop everything and demand to know what was wrong, instead just responding with soft reassuring touches, letting him know they were there for him without making a massive scene about it. It was nice, knowing that he could show that he was hurting without having everyone stop what they were doing and demand painful answers from him, and as the hours slipped away he felt his earlier stress slowly fade away. However, at the back of his mind he knew this wouldn’t last forever. His mom had heard about his freakout, and she wanted to talk to him, and everyone else wasn’t going to just leave him alone. He couldn’t stay in the barn forever.

The first day passed quickly, with the trio binge watching shows and making small talk long into the night, Steven falling asleep under a spare blanket the two had found, with Peridot insisting on remaining near him to “observe his sleep cycle” for her research into hybrids for his mom. The mention of his mom, of the stress and changes in his life that had happened as a result of her arrival, caused Steven to shudder, his body briefly glowing pink. Peridot had then freaked out…

“Steven! Don’t do that again until I get you hooked up! I’ve devised a set of monitoring equipment that-”

“Peridot.” Lapis cut her off with a hand on her shoulder, looking down at the small green gem and giving a small shake of her head. 

“I… I just need to sleep. It’s been a long day, a lot has happened… I’ll be better in the morning.” Steven said, hoping that would reassure the pair.

“Well then, if you need us we’ll be rewatching Camp Pining Hearts. Those new shows are good, but they will never surpass the beauty that is CPH!” Peridot exclaimed, giving up on her plan to observe him as he sleeped as she turned to head back out of the barn to their tv-watching perch as Lapis gave him a soft smile.

“Steven, I know it hurts to talk about what happened, but it will never stop hurting if you talk to someone. Believe me, I tried.” She says, giving him a small pat on the shoulder before standing up and walking after Peridot. After she left, Steven heard the familiar sounds of a cheesy canadian tv show that could never figure out if it was a comedy or a drama, and as Peridot burst out laughing at a scene she’d likely seen a dozen times before, he closed his eyes and went to sleep.

He slept soundly that night, a deep sleep that showed just how tiring the long day of emotions and talks had been, sleeping well past dawn and through Peridot's early morning attempt to be a one gem band. However, what did wake him up was the sounds of yelling. Specifically Connie yelling.

Leaping to his feet, he began to panic, wondering what was going on and why he had heard Connie yell. When he heard it again, he rushed forward, heart pounding as his adrenaline sent him into overdrive. Exiting the barn, he looked around, terror gripping him as he looked around and found Connie…

Sitting on the back of Lion, holding his mom's sword to a small purple gem as Lapis and Peridot yelled at them both.

“Who are you and what are you doing here?” Lapis asked, a hand of water rising high into the sky as she glared at the pair of intruders, while Peridot was lifting a large metal baseball bat with her powers.

“Lapis! Lapis it’s just Connie, I told you about her, right?” Steven says, panicking at the sight of two of his friends so close to violence. “Although I don’t know who that is…” he said as he studied the small purple gem.

“I found her spying on the barn, and when I asked her what she was doing here she said she was ‘observing the hybrid’, so I told her not to stalk you and she refused and I… might have overreacted by pulling out the sword.” Connie said, a blush on her face as she sheathed the pink blade.

“I fail to see what was so egregious about my actions, I was simply doing as My Diamond commanded.” The purple gem replied, acting as if everyone else were the crazy ones in this situation.

“Your Dia- mom sent you here, didn’t she?” Steven asked, a hurt expression on his face at the confirmation that even after all that, his problems were still waiting for him. His mom wasn’t going to go away and let him handle this on his own, no one was, no matter how long he sat around in the barn watching cheesy cartoons and pretending they didn’t exist. It was a bit of a revelation, one made all the worse when he realized why Connie was likely there. “And… you came to check on me… didn’t you?” he asked her.

Connie shook her head. “I was going to call you, but then Lion kept pushing me until I got on his back, and then I was here and I found her skulking around.” As she spoke, she pointed at the small purple gem, who still had not introduced herself, while Lion walked up to Steven, nuzzling against him as if he was worried the young boy was sick.

This of course, did not help Steven feel any better. _ So Lion grabbed Connie and made her come with him to see me. Great. He leaves us alone for days after Mom shows up and now he’s concerned about how I feel? _He thinks to himself as he looks up at Connie. “Well, he brought you here. You should introduce yourself to Peridot and Lapis, I’ll talk to her” he gestured at the purple gem “and catch up in a bit, alright?”

“Steven… alright, but I want to know why you’re acting so weird.” She said as she slid off Lions back, a small look of concern on her face as she walked over to the barn pair. As she did, Steven turned to face his second and much less welcome uninvited guest.

“So, are you here to check on me? I don’t need everyone worrying about me all the time, I’m not going to break if you leave me alone!” He nearly yelled, stress and emotions causing him to lash out before he realized what he’d said. “I’m sorry, that was rude.”

“Compared to the greeting many quartzes have given me, it was warm and friendly” the small gem responds without denying his statement. “I am Iolite, chief investigator for Pink Diamond.” She introduced herself professionally.

“Right, I’m Steven, but you probably already knew that. So, my mom sent you to look after me, huh?” Steven asked, calming himself down and pushing the anger and other emotions away where they wouldn’t hurt.

“Actually, I volunteered to remain on Earth after her visit yesterday. I did this in the hopes of learning more about you and humanity, as I am intrigued by the research the Peridot and human experts will be conducting on you, and I wish to learn more about humanity to determine why a Diamond would go to such lengths to defend them.”

Steven blinked at her words, surprised that she was just laying out her reasons like that for him. “Well that’s… that’s good to hear! I can show you a lot of stuff about Earth, and humans!” He said, his tension slowly sliding away as he found a new someone to help.

“That will not be necessary, I am capable of performing an investigation on my own without assistance, although I thank you for your offer, it was most kind.” Iolite replied with a small nod. “However, I am concerned for your wellbeing, it will be difficult to study you if you are injured or unavailable as a result of the emotional issues you are having.”

At those words, Steven suppressed a grimace. “Right, yeah I understand. I don’t know a lot about how gems handle emotional stuff, but right now I just need some space and some time, alright? I’ll be around for the study stuff, and if you want to come in and watch some TV shows with us, we can introduce you to human culture that way.” He suggested, clearly trying to deflect the topic from his own emotional issues to Iolites stated interest in humanity.

Iolite nodded, seeming to take him at his word as she replied “that is reasonable” as he lead the way up towards the barn where Connie, Peridot, and Lapis were waiting.

“Hey guys! This is Iolite, she’s here to learn about humans and Earth, and I figured that since you’re learning about humans through TV shows, she could join you!” He said, not noticing as Connie winced.

“That sounds like a great idea Steven!” Peridot said as she grabbed Iolite and pulled her into the barn. “Now, there are several important things to note about humans, the primary one being their obsession with pair-bonding rituals…”

As Steven heard her voice fade as the pair slipped inside, he turned to Connie. “That… that’s probably fine, right? I mean, she was just talking about dating and stuff, how bad can it be?”

“Pretty bad.” Lapis said as she leaned against the side of the barn. “Peridot once wanted to recreate one of those date night things we saw on CPH with me, that’s where the scorch marks came from.”

“What scorch marks?” Steven asked in confusion.

Lapis blinked a couple of times. “Oh… you didn’t see those? Well… anyway, it’s good to meet you Connie!”

“We already introduced ourselves…” Connie said, concerned about how a pair of gems with metal and water powers could scorch something.

“Yeah, we did, didn't we?” Lapis asks with a chuckle. “Good times, good times…”

Steven and Connie both stare at her, confused and a little wary, and she sighs. “Look, I’m not… good at this. Making friends, talking to an Iolite… it’s bringing back some bad memories of my time in Blue Diamonds court, and I’d rather just stay out here for a while with you two.” She confessed.

Connie nodded at her. “That’s fine, I just wanted to talk to Steven for a bit.” She says as Lion steps up to Lapis, bumping into her and sniffing. 

“Whoa, what is he doing?

“Oh, that’s just his way of saying hello! He doesn’t bite or talk or anything, just don’t freak out and you’ll be fine.” Steven said.

Lapis gave him a small nod as she patted the lion, unsure what she should do. As she navigated the intricacies of interacting with a giant cat, Connie stepped towards Steven. “So… what’s going on? Why did Lion freak out and bring me here?”

Steven bit his lip and sat down, not wanting to talk but knowing there was no way out of this. “I… I’ve been having a rough time lately. Dad and the gems are acting all weird, and I just couldn’t handle it. It’s just… why are they getting so worked up about me? So I get hurt a bit on missions, that’s part of being a Crystal Gem! And then they want to talk about my feelings, even though I’m going to see a therapist about those, and they keep acting like I’m about to explode and they never just leave me alone…”

As Steven spoke, his fists clenched as tears slid down his face, the emotions he had been feeling sliding out. “Everyone should be happy now that Mom’s back but instead they’re freaking out about it and Amethyst hasn’t been home for more than a few minutes since and even though Ruby and Sapphire say they made up they still aren’t forming Garnet and-”

“Steven?” Connie asked, concern in her voice as she looked at him. Looking at her for a moment, Steven was puzzled by her expression… until he looked down. His hands, feet, and every other piece of exposed skin were glowing bright pink. He freaked out, his body going back to normal, but the damage was done.

“And that happened. It happened when I was talking to Amethyst, and now it’s happening again…” he trailed off as he looked up at her.

“Steven…” she rested her hand on his shoulder. “I’ll help you if I can, but… I don’t really know much about glowing people.” She admitted, the statement bringing a small laugh through Steven’s stress.

“Heh, I know Connie.” He said with a sigh “There’s probably only one person in the galaxy who could help me right now, but I don’t know if I want to talk to her right now. Not when I’m still dealing with these incidents.” He sat down, head in his hands. “Mom coming back… well I had this vision of how it would go, and everyone was going to be happy about it, but now that’s not happening, and I’m making it worse by freaking out all the time and… and it just is a giant mess.”

“Well…” Connie said, bracing herself and looking at him. “I know it’s not perfect, but running away from everyone who cares about you won’t solve anything either. That doesn’t mean you have to run back to them, just that if you want to deal with your problems maybe you should run sideways, not away or towards them…” she saw him looking at her, a confused look on his face. “Look, I’m not good at emotional speeches. If this was a problem I could stab I’d be already stabbing it, but it isn’t.”

Steven nodded at her, a sense of determination falling over him. “I understand Connie. I think you had a decent idea.”

“I did? Because I was just trying to sound deep like you do.”

“Yeah, you did. I’ve been avoiding my problems, and they’re still there, but I shouldn’t run back into them and fix them all at once, I should find one and fix it!” Steven sounded excited, looking over at Lion, while Connie nodded.

“Right! You can solve a couple problems at a time, break it down into small tasks that you can do piece by piece. So, what’s the first piece?” She asked with a grin as he stood up.

Steven waved down Lion, who came over with Lapis laying on his back. “He’s very soft.” She said, lounging on his back without a care in the world, her own actions almost like a cat.

“Awww, Lion made a friend!” Steven said with a grin before he got serious again. “Lapis, I don’t want to be rude, but I kind of need Lion to take me to the Galaxy Warp.”

“Wait, Steven, are you going to your moms colony? Is that really the best idea?” Connie asked.

“If I work why I’m freaking out and glowing pink, then I can handle the rest of my problems without making everyone worry about me! It’s like you said, one piece at a time.” He said as Lapis lifted off Lions back, landing right next to Steven as Connie blinked in surprise.

“Steven, maybe you shouldn’t warp into the middle of a homeworld colony, maybe just send her a message that you want to talk?” Connie suggested as Lapis tensed.

“Yeah, Steven just… be careful, alright?” Lapis asked, giving him a look of concern.

Steven looked between the two of them for a moment before sighing. “Yeah, I won’t just go through to her colony… but I do need to talk to her. I’ll tell you how it went when I get back!” He said before leaning in to tell Lion “to the Galaxy Warp!”

\-----

Paperwork was invented to punish gems who thought they were worthy of ruling.

That was Pink Diamond's conclusion as she sat on her throne. Her projects were slowed to the point of no real progress, her colony was beset with minor problems, and the massive amount of effort that went into building the colony was exhausting for her to deal with. And so when a Rose Quartz with long light pink hair and a laid back attitude lazily jogged up the stairs and informed Sway that “the hybrid, Steven, is at the Galaxy Warp, he wants to talk to Pink.” she had leapt from her seat before she finished talking.

“Great! I’ll be right back!” She said, running off as Sway put her head in her hands, muttering a comment under her breath about how it was getting easier by the day to view her Diamond as just another gem, an impulsive one at that.

Leaving her spire, Pink stepped out into the cool mountain air, relief on her face as she walked towards the warp pad. With a smile, she passed the guards, stepping onto the pad and becoming engulfed in a stream of light as she was shunted through space, traveling a vast distance to her destination. At the other end, she stepped out onto the cool stone, the waves of Earth's oceans crashing against the platform as she looked around. Right next to a little console for messaging between pads, Steven was standing with…

“Oh, Leon! You’re still here!” She said with surprise as she looked over the large pink lion. He stepped up to her, nuzzling her gently as he did, letting her run her hand along his neck, giving him some scratches on the chin. After a few moments, she stopped and looked up at Steven, and something about his expression caused her to pause. He was conflicted, his stance shifting from side to side as he tried to think of what to say. It was a position she was very familiar with. Walking over to him, she kneeled down to be on his level and looked him in the eye.

“Steven, what’s wrong?” She asked gently, and there on the platform in the Atlantic, with the waves crashing in the background, she watched as he seemed to brace himself for what he was about to say.

“It’s complicated, and it hurts to talk about, but I have to talk about it or it will never stop hurting.” Steven said, repeating Lapis’s words nearly verbatim as he looked at her. “Do you have a couple hours?”

Pink nodded, confident that she could make up the work she was missing when she got back. “Of course.” She told him, and as if on cue the dam broke. Steven looked at her with pain on his face and asked one question, a question that had no good answers, only painful truths and comforting lies.

“Why did you have me?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright, and here we go, around three hours before midnight I got the friday update in! This is the second to last chapter in Aftermath, and next week we will see Pink and Steven talk this out in a mature, respectable manner...
> 
> Maybe
> 
> I might decide to throw in an interlude, leave the story hanging on that cliff for a little while, just to see how it goes. ;)
> 
> In all seriousness, thank you to everyone who has left kudos, commented on, edited the TvTropes page, or in any other way given me a sign that you liked reading this story. You're why I keep writing.


	35. Aftermath 6

“Why did you have me?” Steven asked, looking up at his mother with pain in his eyes. Around them, the ocean was a low roar, waves crashing against the platform, only the two of them and Lion on the stone structure to hear what came next. Pink sighed, looking at Steven with pursed lips as she considered what to say.

“Steven, I already told you-”

“You were sad and wanted out, but that can’t be the real reason!” He said, tears in his eyes. “You left so much unfinished and hurt the Crystal Gems and Dad… you had to have more of a reason!”

“Steven…”

“Because they were hurt! You loved them and you hurt them just so your own pain would stop, but that’s not who you are! You’re not the sort of person who’d do that, Pearl and Garnet knew you for thousands of years and they would have told me if that’s who you were!” At this point the coherence of Steven’s argument was dropping like a rock, and the tears were flowing in a steady stream as an inner bundle of emotions he had held onto and built up over the last few days poured out. “You had to have a reason, I can’t have just been born for that! There has to be something more!”

Pink placed her hand on his shoulder, tears forming in her own eyes as she heard his words, the thoughts that in another timeline would cause him to become obsessed with his “magical destiny” and pour over every clue possible about why he had been born forming a rambling narrative as he tried desperately to beg for a deeper meaning, even as her own expression told him there was none to be found. “Steven…” she trailed off, her words failing her as she tried to explain, until finally all that came out was “I’m sorry.”

Steven felt something inside him crack at those words, and he said nothing as he leaned forward and onto his knees. “What’s the point of all this? I’m not a normal human, I’m not a normal gem, my mom only had me because she was depressed and now-” he was cut off as Pinks grip on him tightened, his words striking something deep inside. Looking down at him, her face was a mess of feelings as she opened her mouth.

“The point is whatever you want it to be. I don’t have the right to tell you what the point of your life is Steven, I know how much it hurts to live for a purpose someone else gave you.”

“Well maybe I want that! Maybe I want a purpose other than ‘mom wanted to kill herself and I was a good excuse’!”

With those words everything went still. Pink had danced around saying it explicitly like that the last time they’d talked, and in fact she’d avoided it even to herself a lot of the time, but as the words left Stevens mouth she knew that wasn’t an option anymore. Looking at him, she could tell he was bracing himself for a response, his body tense as he knew he’d crossed a line… and sighed. “Steven, I’m sorry, but I can’t give you what you want. You’re completely right that that’s why I had you,” she admitted, shock on his face as she talked “but I don’t have the right to tell you what your purpose in life is.”

Sitting down, she crossed her legs as drops of seawater sprayed onto her form, the wind picking up as clouds darkened the sky. “I’m sorry you’re hurting Steven, but I can’t make that pain go away just by telling you what you should do.”

Steven nodded at her, joining her on the platform. “I know. I just… I hoped that you would have something, some answer that would make this better. I spent so long living in your shadow, and then everything happened with the gems and Dad and… nothing makes sense anymore!” He was breaking down, tears in his eyes as he stared at her. “Before you came back, I wanted to be a Crystal Gem, and I could work on getting better at being a Crystal Gem, and then it was all about helping corrupted gems, and then it was The Cluster and then Lapis and Jasper happened, and no matter what it was I knew what I needed to do. Now I have no idea what I’m supposed to do with my life!”

Staring down at her son, Pink Diamond felt her heart break as he curled in on himself, his body seeming to deflate and shrink with every word as if he was deflating.  _ I did this. If I had been smarter, been clearer in the video I left him, explained things to the Crystal Gems and Greg before I left… but it’s too late to worry about that now, now I need to move forward.  _ She thought to herself, an attitude that had become her primary way of pushing through the pain of her past inch by inch and day by day as she braced to reply. “Steven… I want to help you. I can help you find your purpose, I can give you support as you look for meaning in your life, but any purpose I assign to you, any meaning I command you to have… it would be empty purpose, and it might take a day, a week, even a century, but you’ll grow to hate it, and me for giving it to you. Believe me, I have been there.”

At his mother's words, Steven looked up, rain starting to fall onto them as he met her eyes, gazing into them and seeing the pain in them. With a deep breath, his body seemed to inflate again, growing in a way that reminded Pink of shapeshifting as he took in her words. “Mom… we need to talk.” He said, and she could not have been prouder. She knew from hard experience that asking for help was painful, she had avoided it for literal millenia, and the fact that her son was able to open up and ask her filled her with pride.

Sitting back, she pulled him into a hug on her lap, holding him close to her as the rain kept falling around them. “And I’m here to help you. I might not be able to be around all the time… or even most of the time, but when I am around I will help you as much as I can.” She reassured him, holding her son close to her as they sat together. “What do you need help with?”

Steven began to talk…

… and did not stop for nearly two hours. 

“I just don’t understand what I’m supposed to do to make them feel better, it’s like no matter what I do they will never be happy when I say I’m fine, like I don’t know how I feel about this stuff. And yeah, getting hurt stinks, and I’d like to do it less… but why do they have to act like I’m about to break all the time?”

“Maybe they’re worried about you? It’s not exactly easy for me to hear, if I’m being honest hearing that your… it’s called a skeleton, right? That your skeleton was covered in fractures is very worrying.”

“But why? I’ll work harder to not get hit, but it’s not like it even hurts that much any more!”

“Steven, if Amethyst had a bunch of cracks on her gem and told you that getting new ones didn’t hurt any more would you feel better?”

“No… but it’s different, bones and gems aren’t the same…”

“Well… you know how when you have some issues where you  _ know  _ something is true but your emotions act up anyway?”

“... yeah…”

“So… if you’re a Diamond, and you have to make new gems for your colony all the time, and gems come out of the ground knowing their purpose…”

“I hate it. I hate myself every time I bring a new gem into this world, knowing they are just going to have their heads filled with Homeworlds lies and work.”

“Is that why you didn’t want to tell me what my purpose would be, or even leave me with a note telling me what I needed to do?” Steven asked, and his mother didn’t even need to say anything for him to know that he had hit the nail on the head. “I’m sorry for pushing you like that.”

“It’s fine Steven, you couldn’t know.” She replied softly, regret filling her face as she looked over the ocean, Steven holding her closer. “Let’s move on to something a bit… less depressing.”

“Alright.”

\-----

When Pink Diamond stood up, her feet placed on the slick stone of the Galaxy Warp, she felt cleaner. For the first time ever she actually felt a sense of connection to her son, a bond based on the emotional connection of sitting in the rain and talking about their feelings for hours, and she was confident that no matter what happened in the future, Steven would not repeat her mistakes in dealing with her trauma. As she gave him a smile, she saw Steven walk over to Lion, a smile on his face as he waved to her before disappearing in roar. With that, her little trip to Earth ended and she stood on the pad and returned to her role as Diamond.

Her day after that was chaos, her schedule torn to shreds by her trip away to Earth, but in the back of her mind she knew that whatever else happened, she had already done the most important task of the day. Week, likely even year. Sure, it wasn’t on any schedule, and none of the other Diamonds would think highly of her for saying it was more important than the running of her colony… but if she cared about their opinions she would be a completely different person, and not in a good way.

\-----

Back on Earth, Steven arrived back in the barn, slumped over Lions back. He felt exhausted, but in a good way, as if the hours of talking had lifted a heavy weight from his body. As the portal dissipated and Lion slumped to the ground, stretching out and yawning, he noticed Connie come out of the barn. “Steven! You’re back…” she said as she approached, taking in his body language as she braced for the worst. “How did the talk with your mom go?”

Steven looked at her, a small smile on his face. “It was good. I think I’ll wait until tomorrow to talk to everyone else though, it’s a lot harder to talk about feelings when they’re mine.” He said as he slid off of Lion, landing on the ground as Connie nodded at him.

“Yeah… is that the first time you’ve been the person being helped instead of the helper?” She asked as the pair began to walk back towards the barn.

“Not the first time, just the first time for something really big like this.” Steven is saying as the barn doors open, revealing a strange sight. Because of rain, the television had been relocated into the barn, where a viewing area had been setup, mainly a clear space in between all the meep morps, and for some reason Iolite and Peridot were sitting in front of the screen, whispering quietly to each other as they rewound and played back one scene of CPH over and over again. “What’s going on?”

“They got into an argument about how Pierre really feels about Percy.” Lapis said as she dropped down from her perch in the loft. “Peridot is convinced he secretly has feelings for him he’s hiding for some reason.”

“But when I explained that these are actors and they’re working off a script, Iolite got convinced that the signs Peridot was pointing out was the actor letting his own feelings for Percy’s actor slip through in his performance.” Connie explained. “They’ve been at it for about half an hour now, Iolite got really interested in television once I explained the whole concept to her, she called it ‘a source of insight into how humans wish the world to be and critiques of their own current way of life’, which sounds deep and mysterious but then she decided to start by watching CPH which… well it’s not very good at social commentary or any of the other stuff she said she was looking for.”

“It’s funny though.” Lapis said as she watched Peridot begin to rapidly explain the intricacies of plot points she had graphed throughout the several seasons of the show, causing Iolite to demand to see the rest so she was not arguing with incomplete data.

Steven and Connie looked at each other as they sat down nearby, watching the two short gems watch TV as Steven considered Lapis’s words. The taller blue gem was clearly not actually watching the show, instead focused on watching Peridot as she began the next episode, a soft smile on her face as the green gem talked over the theme song with her theories of the show.

However, he had not been lying when he said he was exhausted, and instead of trying some scheme to find out the truth and perhaps get the two into a relationship, instead he sat on the ground with Connie, who gave him a pat on the shoulder as she leaned in close. “Are you sure everything went ok? After what happened-”

He cut her off by turning to look at her, no fake smile covering his true emotions the way it had so often in the past. “It’s fine Connie, I’m fine. Mom and me talked, and we both learned a lot about each other.” He sighed and leaned back. “She’s… she’s hurt, kind of like I am but also in different ways, and we were able to help each other feel a bit better. But that doesn’t mean I feel good. Right now it’s like I’m drained, my emotions just aren’t working right because they’ve been so overused recently, and I haven’t actually solved anything other than my feelings towards mom, kind of, so that’s still there, and I still have to talk to Dad and Pearl and Amethyst and Ruby and Sapphire…”

Connie nodded at him as he trailed off. “Well, my mom says that if you’re better when you go to sleep than you were when you woke up, you had a good day. So… was today a good day for you?”

Steven Universe is exhausted, emotionally drained, soaking wet from the rain and sea spray, and laying on the ground in a barn as an old TV plays a cheesy teen drama. Despite that, the answer is so obvious to him that he does not even hesitate for a moment.

“Yeah, today was a good day.” He says, a genuine look of relief on his face as he did. “Just need to have a few dozen more like it, and I’ll be ok.”

Connie was able to stay for another couple of hours before she had to go face the music, apparently Lion had picked her up from lunch at school, and her parents had been flooded with calls from “concerned parents” over the videos going around of a massive pink lion appearing from nowhere to pick their daughter up from school. As she left on Lion, Steven looked out over the hills, the setting sun coating the land with colors, and smiled.  _ Today really was a good day. _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright, this one was actually a bit hard for me to write. I have my own issues that I will not get into here, but one aspect of Steven's arc in Future that really stood out to me was the way he felt like he had a hard time telling anyone about his problems, and that resonated with me, and I wanted to show in this fic that getting over that mental block is a first step on the road to healing, but I actually had an annoying tendency to project so many of my own experiences onto Steven that when I re-read it I realized he was acting out of character, so that segment got a lot of edits and re-writes.
> 
> Anyway, right now I'm hitting a bit of a conundrum in my plans for this fic: as it is, I need a timeskip to make my outline work, and the big question is how long should it be? We have a chapter or two to show Steven starting to meet with his therapist and talk to his family, but after that the plan is a minimum of a couple months timeskip to summer, when he starts summer schooling and actually begins to live like a normal kid... well as normal as he can be. However, Pink is being slowly pushed down in importance by the focus on Steven in the recent chapters, and she won't be coming back into focus until her research has a breakthrough, and that leaves me with two options for what to do after the next arc, where Steven gets to deal with the joys of social services, therapists, and schools:
> 
> 1) Pink has a breakthrough sometime this year, which leaves us with a Steven who is still the same age he was in the original five seasons  
2) Pinks research takes longer, putting us near Future in terms of age. 
> 
> The second one is more and less appealing at the same time, since it both gives me plenty of time in the skip to have characters do things off camera... but also because it means I have the characters do a lot of stuff off camera. Anyways, I'd like to hear some opinions on that, as well as any other feedback you have based on this chapter or the story as a whole.


	36. Recovery 1

The next few days were some of the most emotional of Steven’s life. After taking time to watch TV at the barn with his friends, and Iolite, who was mainly just hanging out around the screen and asking questions about humanity when she wasn’t getting into an argument with Peridot over something only they cared about. Lapis and Steven spent those times chatting, and in those little discussions the pair found themselves barring some harsh truths to each other.

“I just… I want everyone to stop worrying about me, but they have a reason to worry about me, and it’s a good one, but I still want them to just trust me when I say I’m fine.”

“I understand Steven. Some people” she looked at Peridot, who was currently with Iolite sketching out a list of potential causes for a character blushing on screen “well, they care a lot, and it can be annoying, but you just have to remember that they’re bothering you because they care about you.”

Steven nodded at her words. “I know, it’s just hard to help them feel better if they’re always worried about me. I mean, everyone took learning the truth pretty hard, and I want to help them, but I feel like every time I try it’s all about me again, and… I don’t want to make it all about me, I want to help them, to be useful. I’m Steven Universe! I’m not a burden, I’m the kid everyone likes who helps them with their problems, but now I can’t do that without going on and on about my own problems, and I know I need to talk about it but-.”

“Hey, Steven? Look at me. Was I a burden?” Lapis asks, leaving Steven stunned by the question.

“N… no! Of course not, you’re my friend and I…” Steven trailed off as she nodded at him, a small smile on her face. “But… I took mom away from her job, from keeping us safe from the other Diamonds! She didn’t say there was anything wrong, but I can’t do that whenever I need to talk to her or things could get really bad!”

“Look, I don’t know about all that…” Lapis said with a shrug “... but that’s a lot different from what you said before, isn’t it? With your mom, you can only talk to her if it’s really important, but you have the rest of us, alright?”

Steven nodded, a smile breaking out on his face as he hugged Lapis. “Thanks Lapis. You’re the best Beach Summer Fun Buddy ever!”

She responded by holding a hand to her mouth and making a fart sound, reminiscent of how they had spent their first day together running around Beach City. The action was so sudden and such a shift in tone from what had come before that Steven burst out laughing, his body shaking as Lapis joined in, good memories mixing with the crazy emotions to cause the pair to laugh over their inside joke. Iolite soon came over and asked what was so amusing, only to be left hanging as Steven and Lapis continued to laugh.

\-----

The next day was the moment of truth. Flying into town on Lapis’s back, Steven asked her to let him down by the carwash. Immediately a cluster of Quartzes started watching them, mainly out of curiosity, and as Lapis glared at them Steven walked up to the van sitting in front of the building. Knocking on the door, he felt the van shake as his dad called “by right out!”, and stepped back to wait.

A few moments later, Greg Universe popped open the back doors of his van and stumbled out. “Steven! How are you doing?” He asked as he embraced his son, his hug holding the boy tight.

“I’m… I’m doing better dad, I’m sorry for yelling, and running off, and everything else I did, I just needed some time to figure out what was going on, but I’m feeling better now.” Steven explained, leaning into the hug.

“Alright schtu-ball, if you ever need to talk about it, you can always talk to me.” Greg replied as he wiped the tears from his eyes.

“Thanks Dad, I think I will.” Steven replied as he gently pulled away from the hug. “Do you want to go get lunch? Lapis and Peridot didn’t really have a lot of food at the barn…”

“Sure thing! You want fries or Pizza?”

“Fries sound good.” Steven said, a nagging pressure in the back of his mind telling him to spill everything as the pair walked down the boardwalk. Sitting on a bench under the early afternoon sun, father and son ate in silence for a few moments before Steven spoke up. “Dad… I don’t really know what to say, but I don’t want to say nothing to you after all this...”

“That’s ok Steven, I’ve been there. You’re handling this a lot better than I handled my problems with my parents, just tell me what you want to tell me and I’ll help you out.”

“... Are you going to make me stop being a Crystal Gem?”

“What? Steven why would I do that?”

“Because I got hurt when I went on missions with them, and when you saw the X-rays you got all worried and…” Steven trailed off as Greg rested his hand on his son's shoulder.

“Steven, I know being a Crystal Gem means a lot to you, and I’m sorry you thought I would make you stop being one. I just… you’re my son, and seeing all of those fractures, each one being a sign of a time you got hurt and I was just sitting around in the van… it worried me, and if I’m being honest I’d sleep a lot better at night if you weren’t getting hurt like that, but I’m not going to stop you from following your dream.”

Steven sighed, his shoulders slumping as he took in his dad's words. “I know. I’ll… I’ll work harder on using my shield and bubble in the future and,” he took in a deep breath, as if bracing himself “with school and everything, I don’t think I’ll be able to go on missions during the week anymore, unless it’s like, a world ending threat.”

Greg swallowed at the prospect of another disaster, but he put on a brave face for his son. “Speaking of school, I was waiting for you to come back to ask this, but I need to schedule a meeting with a social worker to get paperwork figured out before you get enrolled, she said she had someone cancel and has a slot open tomorrow for you if that’s fine.”

“Yeah dad, that’s fine. I should probably focus on like… studying or something? I should ask Connie what kids my age are supposed to know in school.” He mused as he finished up his fries. “And Pearl could help… I need to talk to her about this stuff still, but I haven’t finished up talking to you.”

“Well, what else do you want to say?”

Steven paused, thinking about it. “I… I mean I talked so long with mom and Lapis and even Connie… I feel like I should talk to you about this more, but I just can’t think of what I need to say to you. I’m sorry.” He placed his head in his hands, feeling like a failure as he tried to put his feelings into words, the weight of the last few days pressing down on him as his dad pulled him in for a hug.

“Steven, you don’t have to force yourself to talk about this stuff, just don’t force yourself to keep quiet when you do want to talk, alright?” Greg asked.

“Yeah, yeah I can do that.” Steven mumbled into his dad's shoulder before pulling back. “So…” he trailed off, looking around to find something to do. “... now what?”

A big smile showed up on Greg’s face. “Well, we’ve actually got a bit of a surprise for you!”

“A surprise? What sort of surprise?”

“Ah ah, that would be telling!” His dad said with a smile as he stood up, Steven following along closely, the pair for all the world appearing like a normal father-son pair walking down the beach. Arriving at the beach house, Steven felt a moment of trepidation as he walked up the stairs, but he knew he had to face the music, and more importantly the gems, for how he’d acted, and maybe soon he’d be able to heal. As the door opened, he was surprised by the amount of activity inside. The only two gems active were Pearl and Bismuth, but somehow they were able to fill the small structure just by themselves, laughing and telling stories as the door opened.

Steven smiled as he walked in, waving at the two gems. “Hey Pearl. Hi Bismuth, what brings you here?”

“Oh, Pearl and I were just catching up on everything that’s happened, she’s lived a crazy life.” The former blacksmith said with a smile.

“Oh, it hasn’t been that bad, I’ve just had a lot more time to do interesting things, I’m sure you’ll have plenty of adventures now.” Pearl replied. “And Steven, now that you’re back, there’s something I’ve been meaning to say…” Steven braced himself as she kneeled down and hugged him, her arms wrapped around his body as he blushed furiously. “You’re a good kid, and I’m sorry you felt that you had to run away from me.”

He blushed hard, shame on his face as he replied. “Pearl, it’s fine. I just needed some time to talk things out with…” he saw Bismuth and bit down on the word  _ mom  _ “... some people who feel the same way.”

The large gem nodded at him. “Heard about that. If you want to run away to the forge next time, I won’t complain, and I promise it’ll be a better visit than last time.” She said, trying to make him feel at ease. It did not work, as the memory of the forge, of what had happened last time he was there, flashed through Steven’s mind.

“That’s…” Steven felt his body tense, his vision filled with the sight of Bismuth holding the breaking point, the lava glowing behind her. He felt people touching him and saying his name, but beyond that he felt his terror, his stress, overrule him for a brief moment.

He came to curled in a ball on the couch, Greg and Pearl sitting near him with their hands on him as Bismuth backed away, shame on her face. For a moment, no one moved or said anything until Steven began to cry. “I’m sorry” he choked out. “I’m sorry I keep freaking out, it keeps happening and I have no idea how to stop it and-” He was cut off as Greg and Pearl both leaned in to hug him.

Which ended up with them smacking into each other. Greg recovered first and said “Steven, it’s ok. This is why we’re getting you to a therapist, so you can work this out.” He said as he embraced his son.

Pearl nodded in agreement as she rubbed her gem, wincing as she did. “Yes, and why we will be looking into how your human half interacts with your gem half, to see why it does the… well, the whole glowing thing.” She had a pained look on her face as she considered her next words. “It’s something we should have done before you started glowing, but that’s the past, and no matter how much you want to change it, it can’t be undone.” She says with regret, blinking away tears as she moves to hug Steven, carefully avoiding a repeat collision as she works around Greg.

But despite their words, Steven still feels horrible. “I’m sorry” he repeats, staring at Bismuth as she stands before him. She shakes her head at him.

“You don’t have anything to be sorry for Steven, I do.” She replies. “Back during the war, a lot of us liked to joke about things like that, because if we couldn’t laugh about it we’d start crying. But I just said that without checking you’d be fine, and that’s on me.” Bismuth begins to step back. “In fact, I should probably get going before I say something else like that.’

Steven winces, regret on his face as she turns and walks away.  _ I don’t want to push people away from me, I don’t want to have them act like I’m delicate and can’t handle it… but when I tried to do that, I slipped up and ran away.  _ As the blacksmith vanished in a beam of light and his parental figures reassured him that it was alright, he slumped into the couch, his feelings running wild.

The rest of the day was awkward, with Steven making it clear that he didn’t want to burden his family with his problems. “That’s what the therapist is for.” He said over and over, until finally Greg and Pearl backed off, letting him handle his emotions himself against their better judgement. The next day though it was time for Steven Universe to actually introduce himself to the government.

\-----

Samantha Morgan was a short woman, dark skinned with a fiery temper when a child was hurt, who did her best to keep up with the demands of life as a social worker. Her most recent case had her on the warpath, as she looked over the (sparse and void of much detail) file on her next appointment. Steven Universe was apparently a child who had been born to a Greg Universe and “Rose Quartz” on a beach in Delmarva, with Rose afterwards completely absent from her childs life until  _ 14 years later  _ when she finally checked in and realized her boyfriend had never taken their kid to the doctor or sent him to school. While Samantha gave her some credit for involving social services now, she was this close to summoning a court and getting neglect charges against both parents filed for how they failed their son. And the fact that the boy was already scheduled for a therapist appointment with one David Washington next week, who she was supposed to coordinate with as the social worker on this case, left her worried about the boys state.

All this happened under the surface as she sat in her car, leaving behind her office in the crowded social services building in Sea City to drive out to Beach City, a small town even by the standards of rural Delmarva. A knock on her door distracted her from the file, and she looked up and said “Come in”, bracing herself and fighting to get her temper under control.

At the post office, she was able to get confirmation that yes, Steven and Greg Universe did really live out on the tip of the peninsula from the postal worker on duty, confirming that the directions she had been given were true, and deciding against risking her old car in the sand, she gathered her briefcase full of forms and began to walk through the beach, silently thankful that she had worn boots today as she shuddered at the thought of trying to work through the sand in heels. As she walked, she noticed a strange bird, uniformly purple in hue, watching her from above. She frowned at it as it flew ahead, always watching, but pushed it out of her mind. She had a job to do, and strange creatures would not deter her.

Rounding the corner, she came up on a truly breathtaking sight. A massive statue jutted out from the cliffs, worn and degraded with age but still impressive. Sitting in the lap of the multi-armed woman was a small wooden house, and Samantha shook her head as she approached, climbing the wooden stairs to the building and knocking next to the screen door, the sea breeze blowing through the air as she stood on the top step.

“Coming!” She heard from inside, and as she watched a young boy, who could only be Steven unless Greg and Rose had had another child, jumped down from an elevated bed section onto the ground, falling more than twice his height before turning to open the door. “Oh hi! Who are you?”

Samantha gave him a small smile as she tried to ignore that he was far too small for a 14 year old and  _ if he was malnourished his parents had a lot to answer for-  _ “I’m Samantha Morgan, are you Steven Universe?” She asked, and when he nodded she pulled out her card. “Great, I’m the social worker assigned to your case, I’m here to handle all the paperwork and help you get into school. May I come in?” She didn’t notice the same purple bird from earlier seem to deflate, as if it had been looking for a reason to attack her before she had revealed she had a reason to be there.

“Sure! Let me call Dad, he’s working down at the car wash today, but he knows you’re coming. I’m surprised you missed him on the way in.” Steven replied as he opened the door for her, stepping aside and letting her enter.

“Well, I was a bit focused on finding this place, you aren’t on any maps.” Samantha responded as she placed her briefcase on the table and began to pull out the forms as Steven texted away on his phone. “Now that I am here, I wanted to ask you a few questions.”

“Ask away!” Steven said with a smile on his face, which actually managed to relieve some of Samantha's worries about the situation.

“Well, to start with, do you and your father live alone? I assume that’s his room back there.” She gestured to the strange doorway in the back of the house with five gemstones embedded in it, the exact sort of place a man who changed his name to Universe and had a kid with a woman who named herself after a rock would live.

“Oh, no that’s where the gems live!” Steven replied, and at the sight of the confusion on her face he began to explain. “They’re a bunch of aliens who spent thousands of years with mom and then raised me when… when she couldn’t” he bit his lip a bit at those words. “And because it was to dangerous for dad to get involved when I was practicing my gem abilities I inherited from her-” he held out his arm and his  _ stomach started glowing and there was a shield on his arm what the actual-  _ “so Dad has been living in his van, but now that I have my abilities under control we’re gonna add a new room for Dad so he can live in the house with us!”

Samantha Morgan had seen a lot of things in her life as a social worker, and not one of them could compare to the magical boy sitting in front of her with a large gem embedded in his stomach that apparently let him summon a shield. Her brain kicked into high gear as her mouth moved a few times, wordlessly trying to ask him the dozens of questions that popped into her mind, until finally she managed to get one out. “Huh?”

Steven’s shield dissipated as he rubbed the back of his neck. “It’s a bit of a long story…”

“I can make time.” She responded, pulling out a notepad and pen.  _ This has got to be the craziest case I have ever or will ever work  _ she thought as Steven began to talk.

“Well, Gems are actually magical rock computers that make solid light bodies, except I’m half gem and half human, and no one really knows how that works but I have a meaty body that I can shapeshift, so that’s cool…” He began his explanation as Samantha noted down every word.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright, and here we go with the first part of the arc dedicated to Steven integrating into Earth Society. I haven't made a decision on how long the timeskip will be, but from the outline I came up with, in order to fit in all the character development I want before the timeskip it won't happen until late June at the earliest, more likely July.
> 
> Also, because we never see Steven's therapist or a social worker helping him get documents in the show, it's time for OC's. Hopefully I don't mangle the process of how social workers do there jobs to badly, I don't have much experience with the system so I'm mainly writing off of what I picked up from basic research, and that could be wrong.
> 
> Finally, there is a reference in this chapter, the title is a big hint. See if you can catch it.


	37. Recovery 2

“So after Dad grounded me, Pearl went and finished the spaceship without us knowing, then she woke me up and took me in it to see the stars! The ship didn’t make it that far though, it started falling apart while we were still low enough to breath, so we were below where planes fly, and then I had to convince Pearl to bail because she was so upset and wanted to show me space but I said ‘you need to learn when to bail’ and we ejected a few seconds before it blew up!” Steven recounted to Samantha as the stunned social worker silently prayed to any deity that was listening that the boy simply had a very, very active imagination. However, considering the fact that he was able to summon a hardlight shield on his arm, she was writing everything down just in case. Outside, she heard footsteps climbing the stairs, and as the door opened she watched Steven wave “Hi Dad!” at the man entering the house.

Her first impression of Greg Universe was that, as far as his son was concerned, he was a caring, supportive father who was making the best out of a complex situation. Her first look at the man as he waved back and greeted his son with a corny nickname seemed to confirm that, and she pushed aside any concerns about his appearance by reminding herself that he ran a car wash, of course he wasn’t going to be wearing a suit or anything fancy with that line of work. Standing up, she extended a hand to him. “Hello, my name is Samantha Morgan, it is a pleasure to meet you.” She introduced herself.

“Greg Universe.” He replied as he shook her hand. “So, you’re here to help with all the paperwork and stuff?”

“Not all the paperwork, we don’t have that many hours in a day.” She replied as she pulled out her briefcase and handed him the first stack of forms. “This all needs to be completed today, and then I’ll take it back to my office and file it, then there will be more forms that need to be filed and more waiting for the bureaucracy and if we’re lucky this will only take a few weeks but if not… well this situation is sort of unprecedented.” She admitted as he took a look at the stack of paper and gulped, thinking to herself  _ better you than me  _ as he sat down and took a pen. “Additionally, given the… unique circumstances of your sons heritage, I was wondering if perhaps you could clarify a few areas of concern.”

“Sure, what sort of concern?”

She sighed, bracing herself for him to laugh and tell her that his son just had an overactive imagination. “Did one of your sons… guardians” she had no idea what the “crystal gems” really were in this family, but that seemed appropriate “did she really build a spaceship and take your son on it, only for them to abandon it moments before it exploded?”   
As she asked, she watched as his face fell, and her hope was dashed. “Yeah… that wasn’t a fun night.” Greg admitted as he rubbed the back of his neck. “I thought something really bad had happened before I saw the parachute, but they made it down ok, and I was even able to get the pieces of my van back! … eventually. Had to get new tires though, those were a lost cause.” He told her as she looked on in slack jawed amazement, and Steven blushed at the comments.

After a few moments of silence, Samantha slumped forward with a sigh.  _ I am not in any way equipped to handle this.  _ She thought as she looked up at the two of them, both looking at her with a concerned expression. “Well, while that level of recklessness is… concerning, I take it that she is still on good terms, and if you wish to let things be, then I will accept that. Moving on, we have a lot more paperwork to fill out and we need to make an appointment for Steven to take a placement test so we know what level his education is at before he begins attending school.” Samantha says, focusing on the familiar aspects of her job and pushing aside all her concerns about magic and aliens.  _ This is a child, he might be half-alien, but he’s also half-human, and that means you need to help him. Focus on doing your job, the other stuff is above your pay grade… and no one will believe your reports so you need evidence. _

“Alright, well I’ll get started on this paperwork, and other than his therapist appointment on Monday our schedule is clear all next week, so anytime then is fine.” Greg answered as he pulled up the paperwork, a look of apprehension on his face as he began to work.

“Alright, I’ll make a note of that and email when the school gets back to me. Now, while you work on that paperwork, do you mind if I ask Steven a few questions about his life?” She asked, which Greg nodded in response to as he began to work through the first sheet. Turning to Steven, Samantha took a deep breath as she prepared for the standard questions. “Alright Steven, so can you tell me a bit about your life? Do you have any friends, people you hang out with outside your family?”  _ Start simple, sound things out and get a picture of the whole life and not just a few incidents. _

“Oh yeah! There’s Connie, Lapis, Peridot, Lars, Sadie, Onion… lots of people, humans and gems!” Steven responds, listing them all off one by one. “Connie even comes over a lot to help with gems stuff, she’s really good at using a sword, and she introduced me to this really cool book series called the spirit morph saga, we talk about it all the time!”

Samantha nodded at him, a smile on her face as she internally decided to push past the mention of swords and get on with the questioning. “Well, that does sound good. It’s nice to know you have a network of friends who can help you out if things go wrong, we all need someone like that in our lives. Would you say you have a decent support network?” At the confused look on his face, she clarified “if you were to have problems, emotional or otherwise, would you trust your friends to help you with them?”

Steven seems to tense up a bit at the question, his face going a bit red as he blushes. “Well… yeah, I actually just got back from staying over with Lapis and Peridot for a day after…” he looked at Greg, who shrugged as if to tell him it was his call “... after I had a bit of a breakdown and didn’t want to be at home for a while. It’s fine now though, I’m fine.” He said, trying to reassure himself just as much as Samantha, who looked at him with concern.

With a sigh, she looked Steven in the eye.  _ So much for hoping he’d just be a well-adjusted kid once the alien stuff was taken away.  _ She thought as she saw how embarrassed he was for bringing that up, sighing as she put her notepad down. “Well, staying over at a friends place after a breakdown is… well it’s not ideal, but it’s nowhere near the worst story I’ve ever heard.”

This seems to reassure him, his smile returns to his face as he thanks her. “Thanks… but yeah, Lapis and Peridot live out in the country in an old barn, it’s not the warmest place to be in winter but it’s spring now and they’re gems so they don’t really care that much about temperature.” Steven explains to the social worker. “It’s actually the same barn we used to build the rocket, and then there was the time that Peridot broke it with her giant mech to try and call Yellow Diamond… a lot of stuff has happened at that barn.”

Samantha blinked for a few moments before asking “I’m sorry, what? You said Peridot was your friend, right? Why did she break the barn to call this… Yellow Diamond?”

“Oh… that was back when she was evil and loyal to Homeworld, but she’s on our side now.”

“I’m sorry… what?” Samantha was trying to process everything she was hearing.

“Well, the gems on Homeworld and their empire are loyal to the Diamonds, who rule over everything, but the Crystal Gems rebelled against the Diamonds to stop them from sucking the earth dry to build a colony for Pink Diamond. But they were only able to keep the Diamonds off of Earth, and the diamonds used a big beam to turn every gem on earth into corrupted versions of themselves except for Mom, Pearl, and Garnet because they hid behind moms shield, and Amethyst because she hadn’t come out of the ground yet.”  _ Alright, this can’t be true… his father is waving at him to stop, like it’s a big dangerous secret oh my god-  _ “And then they spent the next few thousand years gathering up all the corrupted gems so they wouldn’t hurt themselves, and then mom had me and the Diamonds found out about Earth but Pink doesn’t want to destroy it but she is worried about the other Diamonds so I’m a secret!”

Samantha stared at Steven, her eyes not even blinking with how stunned she was by what he had said.  _ I… there is a lot to unpack there, and I am nowhere near high enough on the totem pole to even begin going over it.  _ She thought to herself as she took in everything he said. Off to the side, she could make out his father whispering in his ear, and she realized she was having a minor incident as she gripped the notepad and pen so hard her knuckles turned white. Taking deep breaths in and out, she slowly released the tension in her body and turned towards Steven. “That… that is an interesting story Steven. I don’t think I’ll be able to write most of it down though, my bosses would never believe me.”  _ And if they did, then this poor kids life gets turned upside down. On the other hand, if there is an alien empire out there that could threaten Earth and I don’t tell someone… as soon as I finish for the day I’m hitting the top shelf hard, this is not the sort of moral quandary I am trained to handle. _

“Well if they don’t believe you, then just send them out here and the gems can explain it to them! ...Unless that means the guys in black suits show up…” He trails off thoughtfully as Greg gives her a shrug, clearly aware that his son is putting her in a difficult position the longer he talks.

“You know, this paperwork is a bit complicated, could I get some help?” Greg asks, giving Samantha an out.

“Ah, yes of course.” She replies, moving over swiftly and mechanically, her mind on autopilot as she reels from the revelation. “What seems to be the problem?”

“Well, I don’t really know what I’m supposed to do here…”

As Samantha looked at the form, she realized that the answer was super basic and there was no way a man who raised a son like Steven could be stupid enough to not understand it. With a smile, she answered “well, that’s a pretty tricky one, let’s go through it step by step. Did you get Steven a social security number? No? Alright, then our next step is to go over here to this box… I don’t suppose his mother ever acquired a social security number or any other form of documentation? Yeah, that’s what I thought. Now, we need to fill out this form to tell the people running Social Security to give Steven a number…”

She continued to work through the paperwork step by step, her mind calming down as she went through the documents, the rote actions nice and simple, keeping her attention focused on something other than her internal freakout about how to best handle the situation with Steven. 

\-----

Far away from the small house where a beleaguered social worker was trying to fit gems and a hybrid into her worldview, Pink Diamond sat in her throne, working on a long term plan to shift the worldviews of thousands of gems. Of course, this was hampered by the incredibly chaotic nature of her colony. The hastily assembled staff that ran the various construction efforts and research stations from their Diamonds spire palace had at first attempted to slip back into old, barely remembered habits from their years at the Lunar Sea Spire on Earth, but the loss of many gems in the evacuation and over the years since their scattering to the Yellow and Blue courts made that difficult, while their Diamonds whimsical command that her Spinel help teach those members of her court how to have fun and her elevation of a Fire Opal who made it clear that she disdained the power plays of the Spire pre-scattering left the status quo shattered before it even fully emerged. As a result, when Fire Opal Cut 6C3 entered a room, everyone paid attention to what she did. For the orange gem, who mainly wanted to just get on with her life and not turn any heads, this was annoying.

The two places in the colony that she did not feel the eyes of her colleagues peering onto her form were the small work station she shared with Iolite and the throne room of her Diamond when she was not hearing petitioners. However, the rest of the gems in the spire easily found out where that workstation was, frustrating her attempts to work by constantly showing up and asking her questions, spending precious time that could be used trying to get the colony in order trying to play politics with her. Which is why she currently sat in her Diamonds throne room, working on paperwork on a tablet as Pink sat on her throne, the two gems sitting in blissful silence…

Until a pink blur bounced up the stairs and beelined for Pink Diamond. As 6C3 watched, Spinel performed some strange method of movement that a human would compare to a slinky moving down stairs as she crossed the distance to the throne. Standing upright in front of Pink Diamond, Spinel gave a big grin and said “Hey Pink! How’s it going today?”

No matter how many times she watched the other gem act like this to their Diamond, 6C3 still felt a momentary twinge as her instincts screamed that this was not an appropriate way to speak to a Diamond, but Pink insisted that she preferred that form of casual address, and instead of lashing out the way many of the other Diamonds would, she simply looked up with a soft smile. “Well, it’s not any worse than yesterday. Not any better either…”

“Well that’s not true at all! I’ve got a lot of good news for you. Remember that Tourmaline I was telling you about a few days ago? I think I finally broke through to her.” Spinel replied, telling their Diamond about her ongoing quest to make the gems of the Pink Court into decent people, one at a time if need be. 6C3 wished her luck and was thankful that was not her job as the pink jester gem continued to talk. “She was having some trouble with those silly little games they play, the ones with all the rumors and the dramatic reveals that someone you thought was on your side isn’t actually, and I broke it up because really, they were getting waaay to worked up about who gets the blame for a report being filed wrong, and she was super grateful for it, which I don’t get because it’s not like anything bad would happen to her if I hadn’t.”

The way Spinel says that so dismissively shows that, even if she has spent a lot of time with the gems of the court, she still doesn’t understand them. 6C3 lets out a small sigh, which draws the attention of the pink gem to her. “Oh hey se- no, not going there. Didn’t see you there. You know why all those gems always act like everything is such a big deal?”

6C3 nodded, unpleasant memories flooding back to her. “Yes.” She answered, but when Spinel, and even worse  _ her Diamond  _ kept looking at her expectantly she cracked and began to explain. “It’s because nothing they do has actual real consequences, so they act like the minor inconveniences of being kicked out of a social circle or being temporarily reassigned to a task that no one wants to do but needs doing is the end of the world, and they play all these stupid mind games where every conversation is a minefield, anyone could turn on you at any time, and the only people you can trust are the ones you have blackmail on because that’s what they think of as fun. Everyone knows our Diamond won’t shatter anyone, everyone knows there’s only one colony in her court so we can’t get reassigned to some backwaters like in Yellow or Blue’s courts, so why not just have a bit of fun?” She said, a biting tone in her voice as bad memories came up. “They enjoy it, and if you don’t enjoy it well to bad, you’re in the same court as them and they will drag you down to their level, because if you try to not play the game that makes you a target, you think your better than them, you’re a layabout who won’t get with the program, a lazy half-cooked pebble that should have been left in the ground because no one wants a Fire Opal in the middle of a rebellion-”

She was cut off by the sudden sensation of someone grasping her shoulder. Looking up, she saw Spinel had reached out and held onto her as Pink Diamond stared at her with concern. She blushed under the attention, internally freaking out as she realized that she had gone and burdened her Diamond with her problems in a way that no gem ever should. But neither of the pink gems looking at her seemed to care as Spinel began to reassure her “Hey, hey it’s alright. Sorry for bringing it up, I didn’t know.”

“I should have done something.” Pink whispered quietly enough that 6C3 got the feeling that she wasn’t supposed to hear that. “I knew the gems in my court had problems, and I knew I had the power to make them stop but… but I did nothing.”

Spinel looked between the two and sighed, shaking her head as she stretched an arm out and  _ smacked Pink Diamond upside the head like she was a disobedient Quartz.  _ 6C3 was stunned at the sight, while Spinel just began to speak. “Alright, enough. 6C3, I’m sorry for bringing up bad memories, but you’re not lazy or half-cooked, so ignore those stuck up gems until I can work my magic and make them better people. Pink, enough of the ‘oh no I failed and everything sucks’ stuff! Seriously, if you keep looking back at how bad things were and acting like all you had to do was make a few different decisions to fix everything then you’ll never move on. Can you imagine if I spent every day thinking about how my life would have been if I’d just not listened to one little request from My Diamond?”

The room went quiet, and 6C3 found herself wanting to be anywhere but there.  _ Maybe dealing with the other gems in the court won’t be so bad, Spinel is reforming them and I can pull out the “our Diamond has personally assigned me to this task, stop distracting me” card on anyone who annoys me… on the other hand, watching someone mouth off to a Diamond and live is fascinating.  _ “So…” she said, instantly regretting it as all eyes turned to her. “Is this… normal, with you two?”

Spinel nods before Pink can say anything. “You mean me keeping her from sitting around whining about how everything sucks? Yeah, it is.”   
“I do not whine!”

“Yeah, because I’m here to stop you!”

“Spinel that is wildly untrue, just because I take a moment to reflect on my past mistakes so I don’t repeat them doesn’t mean I’m whining.”

“See, there she goes, whine whine whine.” Spinel says cheekily, causing Pink Diamond, the gem that literally everyone in the court once looked up to as a nearly divine being, huffs and crosses her arms, going back to work and not even trying to respond. Spinel laughs a bit more before heading off, but once she leaves 6C3 realizes something: Pink seemed much less depressed after that talk despite how upset she seemed when Spinel was needling her. Now instead of slouching and sighing as she worked, she attacked her work with strong posture and a powerful gaze.  _ Hmm, I guess Spinel knows what she’s doing  _ 6C3 mused as she returned to her own work.

\-----

Amethyst frowned as she looked into the beach house, watching as Greg and Steven explained everything to this weird human. Pearl had explained the whole thing to her a while back, that humans had a whole complicated government thing set up and that they needed to get everything done right to get Steven into school so he could “experience the human half of his heritage”. Hearing that had been hard for her, because as far as she’d been able to tell Steven  _ had  _ experienced plenty of the human parts of his heritage. After all, he went and hung out in town with those kids, he watched human shows and played human games all the time, it’s not like they kept him locked up in the temple the way Pearl had really wanted to back in the very beginning.

But it turns out that wasn’t good enough, and now Steven had to go to school because otherwise he’d never be able to get a job or some other lame stuff like that, like anyone would want one of those. The only good things about jobs were that they gave you money so you could buy cool stuff, but Steven’s mom owned a planet and his dad had millions of dollars, so why did that even matter? Pearl hadn’t given her a good answer to that question, and Amethyst was starting to think that she didn’t know the answer either, but she was going along with it because that’s what the humans said Steven had to do.

Amethyst had always been more interested in humans than Pearl or Garnet, but as she watched she found herself wondering just how much she really knew about them. From what the social worker was saying, Greg and Steven lived “highly irregular lives”, and as she described the sort of changes she recommended all Amethyst could hear was  _ “Be boring, don’t have any fun, spend hours upon hours learning boring stuff so you can go work a boring life and leave everyone who cared about you behind.” _

“Yeah, because the life he was living before was so much better, huh Amethyst?” She asked herself quietly. “Breaks his body and just keeps going because it instantly healed, and what do you do? Nothing, because he always gets back up and his gem is fine. Now his brain is hurt and he needs to go see a brain doctor or whatever because you didn’t notice anything wrong.”

Amethyst took a few deep breaths, getting her feelings under control as she looked over at the house. The social worker, Samantha or whatever, was talking to Steven and Greg about “study plans” so Steven could be ready when it’s time for him to go to school. With a sigh, she flew away, heading back into town.

Landing along the boardwalk, she turned back to normal in front of Skinny, a Jasper who had spent a few thousand years chilling around the zoo because she was only barely on the right side of being off color. “Hey Amethyst, everything cool with that new human?”

Amethyst paused for a moment before she nodded. “Yeah, she doesn’t look like she’s gonna cause any trouble. Just stopping by to do some human stuff.”

“Alright.” Skinny replied, and for a brief moment there was silence as Amethyst contemplated how much this whole “maturity” thing sucked, she had to like, think through her actions before doing them, and not just go with the flow… well not as much, it probably wasn’t physically possible for her to stop doing it all the time. Her musings were interrupted when Skinny elbowed her. “Hey, looks like squad 2 is getting ready for another game of volleyball. You want to go join in?”

Amethyst smiled, her concerns going away as she contemplated a round of, incredibly violent, Quartz volleyball. “Yeah, let’s get the rest of the shorties and off-colors together, we’ll kick their butts!” She said with a grin as she leaped to her feet.  _ I’ll go talk with Steven when that social worker leaves, but right now it’s time for fun! _

\-----

Far away from Earth, so far that light would take years to cross the distance, a cluster of Bismuths huddled together in their barracks, whispering to each other in the darkness.

“You’re joking.” One of them said, a look of shock on her face.

“No, I’m serious! I heard it from 9AL, she was on the construction team at the shipyard when Pink was talking to the designer, and Pink said that she didn’t want another leg ship, she wanted something sleeker, not based on body parts at all, and then she said that she was going to be importing some designs she liked from the organics on Earth for the ship  _ and the rest of her colony buildings!”  _ Those last words were emphasized because they were the ones that mattered the most to the gems in the room, who worked day and night to build the structures of their Diamonds court.

“That’s… the ship thing alright, it’s just a ship, but we’ve been building structures the same way literally our entire lives! Does she expect us to just go and learn how to do everything from scratch?” Another one spoke up, so focused on her own concerns that she didn’t stop to think that the gems building ships for their Diamond would feel the same way about new ship designs.

“She says she wants a ‘new direction’ for Era 3, to go with the rest of her plans for this era.” Came the reply from the one who had spoken before.

At that, the room went silent with contemplative thought. That their Diamond had plans for handling her court differently this time around was well known, every gem who’d had to hear an upper crust snob complain about her Spinel getting involved in their business or that their Diamond was increasingly letting more and more gems ‘stray from their intended purposes’ knew that the winds of change were blowing, but where the snobs resisted and tried to cling to their comfortable lives, many of the lower ranked gems were eager to see what happened next, especially after their Diamond decreed that all cracked gems be brought to her for healing.

Breaking the silence, one of the many gems, anonymous through their similar voices and the shadows of the barracks, spoke up. “What are the odds the ‘new direction’ actually changes something other than architecture?”

“Shhhh!” Every gem in the room said at once, a bunch of random noises made as they scanned the entrance way for any sign of eavesdroppers. When nothing happened after several long moments, the first Bismuth spoke up again. “None of that, alright? You keep stuff like that to yourself, because even if Pink is being nicer now, we all remember what happened to anyone the upper crusts caught saying things like that last time. Just keep any thoughts like that to yourself. Now come on, we’ve got a lot of work to do, and the rest cycle is just about over.”

With that, the Bismuths went back to work, building Pink Diamonds second colony. None of them talked about the rebellious thoughts that were starting to spread, but none of them needed to. Everyone could tell things were changing, the only question was what their society would look like in the end.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Good morning people! Inspiration hit me while writing this chapter, so it was actually mostly completed by Monday this week, which gave me time to add on to it and show a bit of the behind the scenes stuff that's happening, showing Amethysts feelings and the way the ordinary gems in Pinks court are reacting to this stuff.
> 
> Anyway, I hope you all enjoy reading this chapter as much as I enjoyed writing it. Any and all feedback is appreciated!


	38. Recoverery 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Steven visits a therapist, and other characters reveal that they really need to do the same

Steven was nervous. Ever since Samantha had visited and worked on the paperwork with Dad, things at home had sort of gone back to normal, with Amethyst stopping by to visit and show him off to the famethyst, her name for the collection of Quartzes that were now hanging around Beach City. They’d had fun goofing around on the beach, and watching gems learn about human culture was always interesting, but despite that, he still felt like there was something different between him and Amethyst now, something that had been broken by his outburst on the beach a few days ago. His feelings about her and her new family were complicated, and although they were great to hang out with he still felt a bit of resentment for the way they were taking Amethyst from him. But that’s why he was at the therapist’s office, all the feelings he didn’t want to feel would go away once he had a doctor to talk to about them, someone who studied how brains worked. But even with that confidence, he was still nervous as he knocked on the door, his Dad right behind him.

“Come in!” He heard from inside, and he did. Entering the room, he saw a man, average height with short, nearly buzz cut blond hair, sitting at a small desk. “Alright, I’m guessing you’re Steven then?” At Stevens nod he smiled. “Good, I’m Doctor Washington, although you can call me David. My normal receptionist is out, so I’ll handle the check in paperwork myself. Just take a seat over there and once your father and I finish up the forms it’ll be time to start.”

Steven nodded, sitting down in the waiting room for a few minutes while his Dad filled out some paperwork, watching intensely.  _ I haven’t seen this much paperwork in my whole life!  _ He thought, surprised by just how many forms doing stuff like visiting a doctor or getting signed up for school took.  _ Why do adults make each other fill out all that stuff? _

A few minutes later, the forms were finally complete, and his dad stepped over. “Alright Steven, I hope this works out for you.” He says, sitting down in a chair in the waiting room as Steven and David enter the therapy room. When the door closes, he slumps forward, his emotions at war between gratitude that Steven was getting the help that he needed and regret that he needed the help in the first place.

Inside, David sat down on a single person seat and gestured at a couch nearby. “Alright Steven, take a seat, lie down, whatever makes you comfortable. Before we begin, I think it would be best if I told you a bit about myself, if that will help you trust me more?” At Stevens nod, he began. “Like I said, my name is David Washington, I spent a few years in the marines before I left and went to school, where I studied psychology and eventually went on to get a doctorate to become a therapist. Now, I heard from your father as we were setting this appointment up that you have seen a bit of violence in your life, and I have a lot of first hand experience with the injuries witnessing violent acts can leave on the mind. You don’t have to tell me everything, and anything you do decide to tell me is confidential so it will not leave this room without your permission. With that in mind, would you like to talk about anything?”

“Oh…” Steven replied, unsure of himself. “I… I mean, yeah, Doctor Maheswaran said I might have something called PTSD? Can we talk about that?”   
“Of course we can. First, can you tell me why your doctor brought up the possibility of you having PTSD? I read the report that came to me, but I’d like to hear it in your own words if possible.”

“Well... I was just talking about some stuff that happened when I was a kid, and when I was talking… it was like I was back there, each time I talked about one of the events it was like it kind of flashed in my mind, and by the time I stopped I was crying.”

David nodded, a look of concern on his face. “Alright, that does sound like cause for concern. I do need to ask you more questions though, I can’t make a diagnosis off of that alone.” Steven nodded and he continued. “Beyond that experience with your doctor, have you experienced anything where something reminded you of a bad time in the past and you felt like you were back there as a result? It’s not always full on flashbacks like in movies or TV shows, but even just a brief moment of terror and pain in response to the trigger is enough to dramatically impact someone's life.”

“... Yeah, I just had one a few days ago. I was talking with… actually, how much do you know about me? Because none of this will make sense if you think I’m fully human.”

The room was silent for a few moments before David responded. “Well, if you aren’t fully human, then what are you Steven?”

“I’m half gem.” Steven said, summoning the bubble to surround him, lifting up his shirt to show David the glowing stone on his stomach.

This time the silence was one of shock, as the therapist simply looked at him in confusion. Standing up, he poked and prodded the bubble, verifying that it was real and solid. “Wow… I honestly don’t know what to say about this Steven, this is… well it’s incredible. But I am curious about how this relates to your PTSD.”

“Well, as long as I can remember I’ve been raised by Garnet Amethyst and Pearl, three gem warriors who went off and fought monsters, and I really wanted to be like them, but even though I have my moms powers from the gem, they kept telling me I wasn’t ready because I couldn’t use them. Then when I was thirteen I finally managed to get my shield to work…” he demonstrated by summoning the shield “... right before a monster attack.”

“... a monster attack?”

“Yeah… but it was ok, the only thing that got ruined by the acid were a few floorboards and my cookie cat ice cream freezer. Anyway, after that they finally started letting me go on missions with them, but I messed up a lot. Then Pearl gave me a mirror with a cracked gem in it but it wasn’t an ordinary gem, it was a gem like Pearl and Amethyst, and she was stuck, so I let her out and then she took the ocean but I healed her and she gave it back. Then she went to the gem Homeworld and found out they weren’t all that nice and got imprisoned and gems from Homeworld came to Earth and I got kidnapped because they thought I was my mom shapeshifted to hide, but their cells were made to keep gems in and I’m only half gem, and then I let the other gems out and we took over their spaceship and it fell out of orbit and crashed on the beach by our house…”

Steven trailed off as David looked at him, an expression of disbelief mixed with shock on his face. After a moment, he replied “If I hadn’t seen the videos of a giant green hand floating in the sky myself, I wouldn’t believe you. As it is, I’m still a bit shocked, but your story about what happened makes a lot more sense than anything else I’ve heard about it. Tell me, how affected by this were you?” He asked, doing his best to keep focused on the task at hand instead of his own emotions. “I mean… did you have bad dreams about what happened, do certain things remind you a lot about those events, or something like that?

Steven paused for a moment before nodding his head. “Yeah, I had a few things like that, but then I started hanging out with some cool kids in town and we talked about stuff on a joyride… but then we found an escape pod from the Homeworld ship and I got in and piloted it but then the gems showed up and thought I was one of the Homeworld gems attacking humans… I had to dodge Pearls spear, it was really close to my face…”

David frowned, a look of concern on his face as he listened to Steven’s description. “Well, I can tell that was a very upsetting incident for you, being mistaken for an enemy and attacked is rare but still happens in many combat situations, and it’s alright to be upset by it.”

“But they thought I was one of the bad guys! They couldn’t see into the pod, and I was piloting it all wonky so it looked like I was trying to fight.”

“Well, someone having a good reason for doing something doesn’t mean you can’t feel upset by it. It’s perfectly normal to feel emotional about things like that, and it’s not an attack on them for doing it, it’s just how you feel. Do your family members ever make you feel that you can’t really talk to them about your feelings Steven?”

“No! They just… they have their own problems, and they’re a lot bigger than mine, and I don’t want to bother them with stuff like that, it’ll only make them feel bad.” Steven said, shifting uncomfortably in his seat. 

David nodded, starting to get a rough outline of the pattern as Steven continued to talk. “Well, how long do you plan on keeping these feelings hidden from them? Eventually, either they will find out that you kept how you felt from them, or you’ll have to keep a secret from them for as long as you know them. Feelings that are kept secret don’t go away, you keep repressing them and hoping that one day they’ll leave, but in the end, they are a part of you, and they won’t stop until you handle them in a constructive manner. You know your family better than I do, so I want you to ask yourself: if they had a choice between you telling them about your problems now, telling them in the future when they’ve been sitting around and growing inside your mind, or not telling them at all… what do you think they would pick?”

Steven looked at the floor, a thoughtful look on his face as he remembered his outbursts against Amethyst and his breakdown against Bismuth. Looking up, he gave the therapist a nod. “I understand, they don’t want me to keep my emotions bottled up. It’s just hard, you know? Whenever I talk about how I feel, it’s like I’m trying to make everything about me, and I don’t want to do that.”

“Well Steven, that is another common issue. The key thing to note is that it’s ok to make things about you from time to time, it’s not healthy to be selfless 100% of the time, you need to look after yourself, and that means caring for yourself mentally. It’s ok to make things about you, you are a person with needs and feelings, and that means that every so often you will need the people around you to help you, just like how they sometimes will need you to help them feel better.”

Steven gave him a small nod, but deep down he felt conflicted.  _ I’m not supposed to need helping with emotional stuff though, I’m the kid who everyone loves that helps everyone with their emotional problems.  _ “That makes sense… but how do I actually do that? I can’t just go home and say ‘I need to talk about my feelings.’”

“Why can’t you?”

“Because…” Steven paused, trying to find the words. “Because that’s not how everyone else talks about their feelings.”

“Well, how do they usually talk about their feelings?”

Steven thought about it for a moment before responding. “I guess they just kind of keep them bottled up until something makes them talk about it. Like how Pearl was really upset that mom had kept secrets from her, and I had to chase her across floating rocks and nearly fell off them... but that was fine because I was able to get her to explain why she was so upset that mom didn’t tell her everything. Then we talked about it and hugged and she felt better.”

David paused, looking at Steven with a strange look on his face. “Steven, are you sure that everything was alright about that? Because I’m not an expert, but when you said you nearly fell off your stomach started glowing.”

His words surprised Steven, who blushed a little. “I mean… I kind of did that once a while ago, I don’t know why I do it, just that last time I was… kind of in the middle of an argument, and I said something I shouldn’t, and then I just had to run away. I started glowing and apparently I ran really fast to, because no one could chase me.”

“Well, it sounds like this glow is a sign of inner stress, either from bad memories or a painful emotional situation. I think it would be best if the two of us simply did our best to avoid any topic that causes you to glow like that.”

“Alright… can we go back to talking about how I’ll tell everyone how I feel?”

“Of course Steven, if you ever feel like there’s something you want to say, just say it. I am here to listen to you after all.”

“Well… alright, if you say so.” Steven said, a cautious smile on his face.

\-----

For Greg Universe the waiting room of the therapist's office was one of the most painful places to spend an hour. It felt like failure, like he hadn’t taken good care of his son and now some stranger was needed to try and help fix his mistake. After all, if he hadn’t been so hung up on his own issues, if he’d insisted that he be a full part of Stevens life from the get go instead of hiding out and letting the gems take care of him, maybe he’d have seen this all coming. And maybe if he had thought for a moment about Steven’s future beyond “the gems will take care of it” he would have realized that even with all his money, there likely wasn’t any college nearby that would take someone who had never even set foot in a high school. 

He let out a sigh as he leaned back, his head resting on the wall.  _ I never thought I was the perfect dad, but man did I mess this up. What was I thinking?  _ He wondered, the only sound in the room the unending clicking of the clock as it slowly counted down the seconds he had left to stew in his own regret.  _ Maybe mom and dad were right about me, if I had just sent Steven to school and just not been as controlling about it as them, maybe he wouldn’t need a therapist to help him out. _

The door opened, interrupting his thoughts as Steven and his therapist walked out. “Alright Steven, remember the breathing exercises I taught you, and do your best to document any more panic attacks or flashbacks you have. I’ll see you in a week!” He said, and Steven waved back with a “See you then!” as he grabbed Greg's hand and led him out the door. The pair were in the Dondai before Greg spoke up.

“So… how did it go?”

“It was good. I got to talk a lot about how I felt about some things, and it was nice to just talk about some of the things that happened with someone who isn’t really involved.” Steven replied, a flush on his face as he spoke.

“Yeah, that makes sense. Sometimes it can help to talk about your problems with someone who isn’t really involved with them, that’s totally normal.” Greg assured him, trying his best to be supportive of his son. “Did he say anything I should know or is it all confidential stuff?”

Steven considered that for a moment before replying. “Well, he taught me some breathing exercises that he said helps some of his friends who had panic attacks like mine. And he said he doesn’t think I’ll need brain medicine to help handle my issues, but he wants to take a few more weeks to figure out everything.”

“Right, yeah that makes sense.” Greg answered, trying to focus on the road as the conversation distracted him. “Is there anything you need me to do to help you out with all this stuff? Like, if you need to talk about anything, or if there’s something you want to do…” he trailed off as Steven contemplated his words.

After a few moments, the young teen shook his head. “Can we stop for lunch? I know that’s not what you meant, but I just… I’m tired of talking about my feelings for now. Maybe tomorrow.”

“Sure thing kiddo, there’s that thai place right up ahead, let’s get some food there.” Greg replied. As the two pulled into the restaurant, Steven let out a sigh of relief as the therapists last words before opening the door ran through his mind:

_ “It’s ok to be a bit selfish sometime. If you don’t take care of yourself, you won’t be able to help anyone in the future.” _

\-----

On a planet far away, a Pink Lace Agate was demonstrating the truth of those words. Ever since her Diamonds revelation, she had been running herself ragged to avoid the thoughts that were filling her mind, the concerns that made her wonder why she was still loyal to someone who had hurt her so much. She was torn between the love she had felt for her Diamond, love that all gems were filled with from the moment they took form, and the pain of thousands of years caused because that same gem decided to play rebel.  _ She doesn’t want gems to follow her blindly, so why do you? Why do you still do as she commands when she has told you that she doesn’t want you to obey her just because she’s a Diamond?  _ She shook her head, forcing the thoughts away as she does her rounds.

Duty keeps those questions at bay, so long as she was working she could avoid having to think to hard about why she was working. Marching down to the warp pad, she looked over the trio of Rose Quartz gems on duty. The first, 4XF, to see her was incredibly energetic, even for a Quartz, and she leaped to a salute with a massive shout of “Hey Sway! How’s it going? No one has come through the pad since the last time you came by, but we’ve been standing here guarding it the whole time! You’d think that more gems would use it since it goes straight to Pink Diamonds personal spire, and she runs everything, but no one really stops by other than you. Why do you think that happens Rose Quartz?”

The second guard, 4XE, who somehow managed to make a perfect salute while looking lazy the whole time in a way only a Quartz could manage, nodded. “Well it’s like… everyone’s got their own jobs, you know? And if your job is here, you’re working here already, and if your job is somewhere else you’re already there.” She said, her voice calm and quiet compared to the energetic near yelling of her friend.

Meanwhile, the third guard, 4XG had said nothing, holding her salute as she managed to keep an eye on both her commander and the warp pad at once, a perfect example of a Quartz guard… if it wasn’t for the fact that Sway could have sworn she was silently judging her for making these inspections, as if she could somehow tell that the Agate was working herself far past the point where a rest cycle was required.

“Yes, well if everything is in order here, then I believe that this inspection is over. Congratulations, keep up the good work!” Sway said after doing a brief circle of the pad to check for damage or debris before stepping back. Walking further down the path, she pushed her body to the limits by jumping down, clearing most of the distance down the hills as she began her inspections of the guard posts around the perimeter. Those positions weren’t technically part of her command, the personal guard of her Diamond was only in the spire itself, but as the senior most Agate she felt a duty to inspect her comrades' work. Also, it kept the intrusive thoughts at bay.

\-----

As Sway left, 4XE turned to the other two Rose Quartzes. “So… you both saw that, right?”

“Yeah, you think she’s doing ok? We should like, throw a party or something to show her how much we care about her, she’s working way too hard.” 4XF replied.

“Yeah, totally. What do you think 4XG?”

The quiet gem stood thoughtfully, not responding immediately after hearing the question. The other gems were used to this, they had come out of the ground together and had had plenty of time to get to know all of each others weird quirks. “I think she’s worried about something. Something that happened on Earth. She wasn’t like this before Pink took us there, and ever since we came back she’s been pushing herself.”

“Right! She’s really worried about whatever happened there, and that’s not ok. We should help her out however we can, otherwise she’s going to get hurt!”

“Yeah, like… you remember that time 4XA went and stressed herself until she poofed? If that happens to our Agate then everythings going to be a huge mess.” 4XE replied, her expression serious despite her lazy posture.

4XG looked out over the valley, remembering that trip to Earth and the strange way their Agate had been acting on the ship before landfall. Something was going on, something that she doubted a show of support from the Quartzes of her command would fix. But it wasn’t like it could hurt to try. “Well, next rotation we’ll talk to some of the others, try and get them onboard.” She said, pulling a cheer from 4XF, who she suspected was always looking for a reason to celebrate.  _ And who knows, maybe she’ll be able to get through to Sway. _

\-----

Deep in the bowels of Homeworld, a small Ruby darted between patrolling Robonids, dodging the bots piercing gazes as she did. Slipping deep underground, through tunnels that were long forgotten by the gems on the surface, she made her way down through the darkness, looking with concern at every shifting shadow or strange sound. After several minutes, she slipped inside one of the oldest Kindergartens on Homeworld, a place that had long since been drained dry to produce vast numbers of gems. In the depths she almost didn’t notice as a long slender shadow rose on the wall behind her…

“Ruby!” The Pearl yelled out, sweeping the small red gem off her feet as she leaped forward. “You’re back!”

“Hey Pearl! Yeah, and I’ve got some good news!” Ruby said as she was wrapped up in the thin gems arms, holding her close in a hug.

“Oh, I hope it was worth it. I can’t stand it whenever you go up there…”

“I know, I know, but it is worth it! You know that rumor about Pink Diamond being back? Well it’s not a rumor, she’s actually back! And one of the guards said she heard from someone else that she had a bunch of Off Colors represent her court during a ball!”

Pearl sighed, holding her precious Ruby close. “Ruby, darling, that’s great if it’s true, but what if it’s not? What if it’s just another rumor?”

Ruby blushed as she was held close, sighing as she felt a bit embarrassed for getting all worked up over this. “Yeah… you’re right. I’ll keep listening for more though, in case it’s not a rumor.”

“Alright Ruby, if that’s what you want to do then I’ll back you up if you need me to.”

“No! Not with how they treat Pearls up there. I won’t let them hurt you like that.” Ruby said, cupping the pale gems face and leaning forward. As their lips met, for a brief moment the cavern was filled with light, and Rhodonite appeared.

“That’s a lot better! I hate splitting up like that… but no one else can slip out except for Flourites components, and I don’t want to impose by asking her to split up… ooohhhhh, I hate this place!” She said aloud as she slipped deeper into the dark, away from the bright and dangerous surface and into the safety of the underbelly of Homeworld.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey everyone, not much to talk about, this chapter is pretty much a straightforward character piece, low action.
> 
> Leave a comment on how you think I'm doing at writing Steven at therapy, that part was the part that left me most concerned, I've never been to therapy and was mostly operating off of what a friend told me about his time seeing a therapist, so idk how good this was.
> 
> Beyond that, I'm building up to getting most of the character development done in the next... I think two months? End of July is the plan, and then I will take the month of August off and begin the sequel set in around the same timeframe as Future, maybe off by a year in either direction. So yes, technically this story is coming to an end, but on the day I first wrote this fic I made it part of a series, even if before now it's been a series of one, so anyway the sequel will be coming in September.


	39. Chapter 39

Pink Diamond sat in her throne, something that she found herself doing far too often recently, and sighed as she looked over the two gems in front of her, motioning for them to begin. 

“My Diamond” the pink Zircon began “from the moment you made your request to me I made it clear that the command you wished to give went against laws laid down by the Diamond Authority as a whole. However, we have no record of any previous disputes between the commands of a Diamond and the laws of the empire, and as such I have spent the last three weeks scouring all the records I could for any law that might clarify which is to be obeyed.” Pink nodded for her to continue, a sinking feeling in her gut.  _ This is the worst part of being a Diamond: I’m powerful enough to see what needs changing and weak enough that I can’t just make it happen.  _ She mused as the Zircon steadied herself. “In my professional opinion, as the law is clear that the members of a court are to obey their Diamond, any disputes between a Diamonds ruling and the laws of the empire are matters to be resolved by the Diamond Authority, and the gems of your court should obey you when such disputes arise.”

Pink felt conflicted at that sentiment.  _ It would be so much easier if I didn’t need to command it, if they understood how horrible the laws of the empire were. But I guess if they understood that, they wouldn’t be a part of any court, they’d have joined the rebellion or been shattered for insubordination.  _ “Very well, I thank you for your diligence.” She fixed her eyes on the Tourmaline standing next to the Zircon as she spoke. “I do believe that having an official ruling is important to make sure no one decides to bother my fellow Diamonds with concerns about this matter. You are dismissed.”

As the Zircon bowed and left the room, Pink kept her gaze fixed on the Tourmaline in front of her. “What am I going to do with you?” She asked, her form slumping in her throne as she looked down at the gem who had attempted to steal a ship to report to Yellow Diamond.

“The laws are clear, unless you’re just going to decide that theft is acceptable now the way you did type mixing?” Came the defiant reply, the aristocratic gems bearing showing no sense of remorse. “With all due respect  _ My Diamond,  _ my loyalty is to the Diamond Authority as a whole, and your actions weaken the empire. I have no regrets.”

The gem who had once been known as The Rebel Rose Quartz knew defiance when she saw it, and the part of her that valued free will and choices screamed in frustration that this gem had been clear minded enough to see that unwavering loyalty to her was a bad idea but not clear minded enough to see that the other Diamonds were worst. “Tourmaline, Facet 5 Cut 8ET…” she hung her head, shaking it in frustration at the stubborn gem in front of her. “Why? Why are you so convinced that what I am doing is wrong?”   
  


The gem before her replied swiftly. “The separation of types is the foundation for the empire, it prevents cross-type fusions, it ensures the most efficient use of resources, and it dispenses with any uncertainties about who is best suited for what role. Your command last week was a direct assault on this foundation, and the other Diamonds needed to be informed.”

_ It was just making the exemptions I had been giving into official policy, I didn’t expect anyone to freak out about it… maybe I haven’t been paying enough attention to the mood in my court. _ Pink shook her head, her stomach churning as she realized that the gem in front of her came so close to unveiling her true intentions and yet decided that they were evil and needed to be stopped. “You’re right.” She whispered as she stood from her throne, stepping towards the suddenly scared gem. “I am trying to tear that down, but you don’t have the full story. The truth is, doing things the traditional way doomed my first colony on Earth. I never agreed with the other Diamonds, but they overruled me, again and again telling me to do things their way, and well… we both know how that ended, don’t we?”

The Tourmaline found her voice again after a few moments of silence. “Ye… yes. But that doesn’t mean you can just… just throw away thousands of years of tradition based on your whims!”

“Why not? Those traditions are just the whims of the other Diamonds.” As the small gem processed that statement, Pink stepped around her, looking out over the wooded valley below the spire her throne room rested atop. “I know what happens when tradition is obeyed, and I refuse to let it happen again. The other Diamonds will try to stop me if they find out, so they cannot learn the truth. I don’t want to hurt you.”

“What do you…” The Tourmaline trailed off as she saw her Diamonds gem glow, a spiked shield forming on her arm, one that a veteran of the rebellion would recognize as being very close to Rose Quartz’s shield.

“Tell me Tourmaline, do you believe me?” Pink asks, turning to look the other gem in the eyes. “I won’t ask if you trust me, your actions have already told me you don’t, but I just need you to believe me when I say that I don’t want to hurt you, but if that’s what it takes to keep you from running off and telling the other Diamonds about what I’m doing, I will.”

The Tourmaline looked at her Diamond, eyes darting between the spiked shield and the firm, unyielding gaze, before slowly nodding her head. “I believe you, My Diamond. Forgive me, I should not have questioned you.”

“No, question all you like, just don’t try to involve the other Diamonds.” Pink said, putting away her shield as she returned to her throne.  _ Please let this be the end, I can’t keep up the mask for much longer. _

“I… of course, My Diamond. I will take my leave now.” With that, she slips out of the throne room, and as the door closes behind her Pink places her head in her hands, tears in her eyes.  _ I just threatened someone. It was for a good cause, but it feels horrible, and I can’t believe how easy it was. I feel like a monster. _

“Hey Pink, you doing ok?”

Pink looked up, surprised to see Spinel right in front of her. “Spinel, what… what are you doing here?”

“Been here for a while, you are not very observant in ‘Diamond Mode’.”

“What… well, I had a lot to think about.”

“Yeah, like how you nearly made that one gem poof herself from fear? That was hardcore, didn’t know you had it in you. I’ll keep an eye on her, but I don’t think she’ll be any trouble.”

“Great.” Came the reply, flat and emotionless.

Spinel turned to look up at Pink, taking a moment to brace herself before opening up. “You’re not handling it that well.” It wasn’t a question.

“No, I’m not.” Spinel gestured for her to continue. “It’s just… I don’t want to rule by fear, I want the gems of my court to think for themselves and understand that things will be better if they don’t follow those stupid old rules the other Diamonds gave them. But that Tourmaline, she was thinking for herself and thought in a way I didn’t like, so I cracked down on her like Blue or Yellow would, and I feel sick about it.”

“Well, if Blue or Yellow showed up here after hearing from her-”

“I know!” Pink shouted. “I know I couldn’t let her run off to Homeworld and tell the others, but that doesn’t make it easier!” She slumped back in her chair, head in hands. “You know, I used to dream that one day everyone would understand the benefits of being free, and then they could just vote for someone to take over, and I could live on Earth without having to worry about any of this stuff ever again… but if this is how they act when I start easing them into it then-”

“Then it’ll take a bit longer.” Spinel interrupted her. “Sure, it’s not going to be easy, but trust me when I say that with some things, having a dream about what you’ll do when it’s over is the only thing that can keep you going.”  _ Like standing in a garden, dreaming about me coming back.  _ Pink thought, feeling even worse. Spinel must have seen her expression, because the next thing she did was laugh. “Alright, so in my case the dream didn’t happen, but it kept me  _ mostly  _ sane, and that’s the important part. If you give up on the dream, it’s going to be a lot harder to make it to the end.”

Pink nodded, her emotions still in turmoil as she did. “Yeah, you’re right.”   
  


“Now come on, you’ve got a lot of work to do, so get back to it!” Spinel commanded, pulling a soft laugh from Pink as she went back to the mountain of paperwork that had consumed her free time.

\-----

Steven sat in the Dondai yet again, slumping in the back seat as his Dad drove away from Sea City High and Pearl sat shotgun. The words of the teacher administering his testing rang in his ears.  _ “He’s a smart kid, his math scores are incredible for his age, but his scores in history and social studies.. _ . He shook his head, slouching even harder as he felt disappointed in himself. In the front seat Pearl read over the papers, muttering to herself as she took in his scores as he slouched.  _ I did horribly, I know it. I didn’t know any of the history stuff, and I had no idea what all the words for writing were, and I know the teacher was trying to be nice when she said I could catch up quickly, I saw all the red on those papers- _

“Well Steven, it looks like you’re ahead of expectations in mathematics! That’s good, they say they can put you in a class a year or two ahead of normal when school starts in the fall and you don’t need to take any classes on it in the summer.” Pearl interrupted his musings. “All these other subjects are just memorization, except for science but that’s just applied math! You’ll be caught up to all the other kids your age by the end of summer.”

“Yeah kiddo, you’re really smart!” His dad added, concern on his face as he watched Stevens' expression. “You’ll figure all of this out no sweat, and if you don’t, then you have a whole bunch of people around to help. You ever need a fancy book or a tutor or something, just let me know and I’ll see what I can do.”

“Yeah… I guess. Thanks dad.” He replied, shifting uncomfortably.

Pearl shared a quick look with his Dad before turning back to him. “Steven, I know we haven’t been the best at teaching you about the human side of your life, and that’s on us, but it’s not the end of the world! You’ll be able to handle all of this with no problem!”

“Sure.” Steven replied, his neutral answers leaving them both at a loss for what to do.  _ I can’t believe there’s so much stuff that I didn’t know. Why didn’t Dad at least try to teach me some of this stuff, or Pearl? And this is just the stuff I need to know to get into High School, would they have just let me go on and not know stuff until I was an adult?  _ Looking up at them, he sighed, releasing the tension.  _ I don’t want to talk about it right now. Maybe after my next therapist visit.  _ He thought as the car passed over the hills, the sandy shores of Beach City revealing themselves down below.

\-----

As commander of Pink Diamonds personal guard, one would expect the Pink Lace Agate known as Sway by her troops to be strict and professional. However, looking at her as she stalked through the halls gave an impression more like that of an angry predator, eyes darting around as she searched for anything amiss. However, the gems under her command were professionals, and they left not a single cause for complaint in their actions as she continued her inspection. In the middle of the night, when humans would usually be turning in or already asleep, the shifts changed and a third of her command filed out of the resting alcoves to replace another third, who went to rest.

During the transition, she had the gems coming off shift gathered in a decently sized room in the spire, windows letting in the light of the moon as low lights illuminated the ranks of Rose Quartzes. “Alright, you all pass inspection, if there are no further reports to be made then that is all, now go rest.”

“Actually, there is something I need to report.” Came the soft voice of 4XG.

“What is it?” Came the testy response from her Agate.

“I believe that the commanding officer of this unit is skipping mandatory rest cycles, to the detriment of her health and the capabilities of this unit.”

“I concur!” Came the voice of 4XE, soon followed by an ocean of agreement from the rest of the ranks, leaving Sway feeling disoriented as her mind tried to process what had just happened.  _ What… are they serious?” _

“While the concern is appreciated, my health is fine and my mind is sound.” She replied, turning to leave… and finding her path blocked off by a wall of Quartzes.

“Have you looked in a mirror recently? Because I think that level of form degradation disagrees with you.” Came a voice from the crowd, and a full length mirror that had somehow been hidden from sight popped out and was presented to her. “Come on, you do form inspections, you know what to look for. Now can you honestly tell us that you wouldn’t immediately order one of us to rest if we looked like that?”

Sway paused, staring at herself in the mirror. Her forms edges were slightly off, her hair was disheveled, and the subtle glimpse of the hard light flickering in a few locations confirmed it. Hanging her head, she inwardly cursed herself.  _ This is my weakness. I couldn’t handle my emotions, so I tried to work through them, and now my command is telling me I need to stop and get some rest. This is disgraceful, I have- _

“Hey.” She felt a hand rest on hers. “We’re worried about you, a lot of things have happened, and we just wanted to make sure you were alright. If you need to rest, you can spend a rest cycle with us.” A wave of affirmations rolled through the crowd, and Sway felt herself blush as she realized how concerned they all were for her.

“I… I think I’ll take you up on that. Lead the way.” She said, and as the swarm of Rose Quartzes lead her into their barracks, she felt her shoulders sag in relief.  _ I can’t tell them what’s wrong, but maybe if their “rest” cycles are as rowdy as I remember them being I won’t be alone with my thoughts the whole time.  _ She thought to herself as a semi-serious fight started over who would get to be closest to the boss.

  
Laughing at their antics, she felt the stress begin to lessen.  _ Just like the good old days, before the war.  _ The thought was bittersweet, but that was still far better than most thoughts she’d had recently.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright, so I am trying to move us along and juggle a few different plot threads at once, and I hope I did a decent job with them. This chapter was fun to work on, although it was a bit slow with not a lot happening. New arc starts next week, with any luck I'll be able to wrap up as many loose ends as possible by the end of July, and then it'll be time for the hiatus and timeskip.
> 
> Leaving kudos or comments is how I know you liked the story, so don't be shy about either, and I will see you next week.


	40. Chapter 40

_ As commander of a Diamonds personal guard, I must retain my professionalism at all times.  _ Sway thought, looking over the chaos of a Quartz barracks during a “rest” cycle. While it was true that the vast majority of Rose Quartzes in the room were resting, lounging about in cubbies along the walls reminiscent of the holes in the Kindergarten they came out of, there was always something going on on the floor below. Right now, a particularly boisterous guard was fighting two others at once, punishment for running her mouth and bragging that she wasn’t tired from her guard shift and was therefore a better fighter than any other two Quartzes combined. Naturally, her sisters had done their best to dissuade her of that notion by jumping her as soon as her back was to them.

_ On the other hand, I could get used to relaxing like this.  _ She thought as the bragging gem swore her revenge, her words overly dramatic and full of obviously fake anger as her sisters sat on top of her, pinning her to the floor. Turning to face the Rose Quartz in the pod next to her, 4XF, Sway asked “is this normal rest cycle behavior?”

“Yep!” Came the reply from the cheery gem, who was somehow nearly always excited and full of energy.  _ Except when you lead her into that room to put her in a bubble and leave.  _ A treacherous voice said in her head. Shaking it away, she smiled at the happy Rose Quartz.

“Well, I am honestly amazed I haven’t had any signs of cracked gems from these fights, but I guess you all know how to avoid that.” She said with a grin.

“Oh yeah, we know all about how to wrestle without hurting the gem, it’s really useful because like, have you felt how hard the floors are in here? I never really thought about it before we went to Earth, but that sand stuff on the beach would be so much better for wrestling in because we wouldn't have to worry about cracks as much, but I tried to pick some up and it just went sliding through my fingers, so I don’t know how we’d get it here. But like, after I felt that, I was wondering, why are all the floors solid stone or metal? Why not have softer floors for practicing and fighting and stuff?” Came the stream of consciousness that 4XF was known for, causing a smile to form on Sway’s face as she took in the words.

“Well, I don’t know about sand, but I’ll look into getting a padding of some sort for this room. After all, just because we haven’t had a crack yet is no reason to not pay attention to safety.” She said with a grin, looking down as another fight started, all involved clearly just showing off, with loud speeches that everyone in the room could hear, over-exagerated emotions, and stupid reasons behind the fights, it was more like they were rotating down to put on a show for each other, with the remaining gems relaxing and watching the show fights.

“So, you going to join in?” Came a voice from the other side of her. Looking over, Sway took in the sight of 4XE, the laid back gem grinning as she looked over at her boss. “It’s a lot of fun, get to burn off some extra stress, get nice and close to your fellow gems, feel them embracing you on the floor…”

_ I am reasonably certain that is a sign of inappropriate desires… but who cares, our Diamond tossed those to the side a long time ago.  _ Sway thought, noticing the Rose Quartzes hand resting on her leg. “Well, I don’t really think it would be proper, no one would be willing to fight me-” she watched the other gems face fall a bit in disappointment at those words. “So I should probably stay here and watch.”  _ Plus with me still technically being in command, even though it feels less like it now than it ever has before, I don’t want to deal with the mess me fighting one of you, even in a show fight, would cause.  _ She thought, sitting back to watch the show with the others.

“I should do this more often.” She said, drawing surprised looks from the gems around her. “After all, I do need rest cycles the same as you, and as long as everyone knows where I am, they can get me if there’s an emergency. But really, I don’t think I’m going to miss anything by taking my rest cycles here.”

\-----

“So wait, if flammable means it’s easy to set it on fire, then why does inflammable mean the same thing?” Steven asked, confusion on his face as he held up the chemistry book. 

“Well that’s… that’s just what the words mean I guess?” Connie replied.

“Then what is the opposite of flammable?”

“Nonflammable.”

“Why does nonflammable mean something different than inflammable?” Came the bewildered question from Steven, who was still trying to wrap his head around the concept. Meanwhile Connie just shrugged, a small giggle on her face as she said “you’re going to have a very hard time with English class if you keep expecting English to make sense.”

Steven just stared at the ground, remembering how bad his test scores had been, causing Connie to frantically scramble as she tried to walk her joking statement back. “But you’re making good progress in science! You’re really good at remembering things and doing all the math involved, and once you remember all the rules and exceptions you’ll be able to handle english just fine!” She reassured him, patting him on the shoulder encouragingly.

“Thanks Connie.” He replied, turning back to the annoying book and continuing to read. “I just wish I didn’t have to do all of this now, you know? Like, if I did it a little bit at a time like you did, then I wouldn’t have to go to summer school, or spend all this time studying. I’d be where a normal kid my age is  _ supposed  _ to be.”

Connie noticed the tone in his voice, looking at him with a frown. “Yeah, but we can’t exactly do anything about that now, can we? My dad always says you should focus on what you can fix before you spend any time on stuff you can’t.”

“You’re right. It’s just…” Steven sighed, his face sliding into his hands. “I kind of wish that the gems hadn’t only focused on my gem side, and that Dad had tried to actually get me into a school, but he wanted me to grow up free and stuff and I kind of get why he didn’t but it’s just… I’m rambling, sorry.”

“No, it’s ok.”

“It’s not. I’m trying to open up more about my feelings like my therapist said, and now I ruined our study time by turning it into a mess about my feelings and-” He was cut off as Connie grabbed him, her grip firm on his shoulder.

“Steven, listen to me. You are not ruining anything, I am your friend, and friends listen when friends have problems. I don’t want you to hide what you’re feeling from me, and if that means a study session turns into a chat about feelings and how you grew up, then that’s what it means, alright?”

Steven blinked, blushing hard as he felt her words sink in. “I… thank you, Connie.” He said, gratitude in his voice.

“Anytime.” She said with certainty before pulling back, releasing her grip on his shoulder “So, you got any other stuff you want to vent about?”

“No, I think I’m good for now.”

“Really? Even with all the stuff with your mom?”

Steven took a moment to think before shaking his head. “No, Mom is… she’s complicated, and I don’t even know where to begin with her. I know you want to help, but I don’t think I should try and sort all those feelings out right now. When I want to talk about her, I will.”

Connie nodded, concerned that he was keeping his emotions to himself but relieved that he was willing to at least say he would talk about them instead of hiding them. Steven turned back to his studying. He had a long way to go before he was ready for high school, and he was not going to get through it by sitting around and doing nothing. Unbeknownst to him, light years away his mother was also deciding that sitting around and doing nothing wasn’t getting things done fast enough, although the scale of her actions was a bit greater than his...

\-----

[Authors Note: This last section is written in the style of a history book because I wanted to practice with alternate writing styles, feedback is appreciated]

The Pink Court, long dead and only recently rebuilt, was very different from any of the other courts of the Diamond Authority. Where the rest of the authority viewed stability and calm as goals in and of themselves, keeping things so unchanging that the gems within could lose track of years or decades, the Pink Court had been in flux from the moment of its refounding, with gems shuffled from position to position to make up for shortages of all gem types, shortages that their Diamond refused to resolve by creating new gems until she could be confident that to do so would not destroy the world they lived on. As a result, many of the gems within it, who had spent thousands of years with mostly the same tasks and responsibilities, found themselves forced to start adapting or fail their returned Diamond.

However, when they stopped to think, to look around and see  _ what  _ exactly their Diamonds orders were doing, several members of the court found themselves realizing that the breakdown of the caste system, the new flexibility demanded by Pink Diamond, the crackdown on overseers who treated their subordinates to harshly… it was all starting to feel a lot like what the rebel Rose Quartz had argued for. Naturally, as loyal members of their Diamonds court, these observant gems verified what was going on with those around them, and when they were certain that they were not simply misunderstanding the situation, this group presented a delegation to their Diamond to inform her of their findings. After all, they reasoned, with many of the courts Iolites lost on Earth at the end of the rebellion and many of the remaining ones assisting the research into sustainable gem production, their Diamond must not be receiving all the information she should be. 

And so they arrived at Pink Diamonds throne room, explaining what they had seen, only in the humblest of ways of course.  _ Yout overstretched investigators are doing their best, but there are simply too few of them, even with that Fire Opal and a few others reassigned to assist them. _ They began, avoiding any hint of insult that could cause their Diamond to dismiss their concerns, knowing the trust she placed in her head Iolite.  _ We simply wished to convey this information to our Diamond, and we are sure that, in your vast wisdom, you will do what is needed to avoid a new rebellion.  _ Came next, sweet words as they tried to sound as though they were only concerned for the wellbeing of the court, even as several privately worried that they would be replaced if other types of gems were capable of doing their tasks.

Their Diamond sat silently on her throne, deep in thought for a long moment as she pondered the words of her loyal subjects, before laying down her verdict:  _ I will not change my policies, these effects are not only expected by me, but they are a sign that my plan is working.  _ She declared to the stunned courtiers and aristocrats, who were shocked at the very idea that a Diamond would say such a thing.  _ My first court was a failure because I attempted to run it the same way Blue and Yellow Diamonds run their courts, and I refuse to follow that path again. These changes are only the first step to my plan. _

In truth, Pink Diamond had wanted to avoid telling the truth, but she was not blind to the dissent within her court, she knew that with how stuck in their ways the gems before her were, any lies that would satisfy them would either require her to abandon her attempts to reform or be revealed as lies in a short time, and so she made a decision to reveal as much of the truth as she could safely. While it was possible that this decision was made without enough thought put into the long-term ramifications, as many of the decisions the gem known as both Pink Diamond and Rose Quartz were, once the words escaped her lips there was no returning, even if a Rejuvenator was used on every gem but herself, the loss of all their memories would spark concern amongst the remaining gems in the court, and that was assuming Pink Diamond would ever be ruthless enough to order such a thing.

_ My Diamond  _ the spokeswoman for the crowd began, clearly flustered.  _ Are you claiming that you are deliberately making this court closer to the ideas espoused by the rebel Rose Quartz?  _ At that, the Rose Quartz gems guarding her throne tensed, their own feelings on their Diamonds secret identity clear as ice. Pink Diamond though simply nodded.

_ While the actions Rose Quartz took were regrettable, the reasons she fought made sense the longer I look at them.  _ She stood from her throne, pacing around the room as she talked.  _ When I came back, before this court was reassembled, I had time, time where I had no assignments, no responsibilities, and nothing to distract me from my thoughts. In that time, I came to a conclusion: the empire is fragile.  _

The room was full of stunned gasps at that remark, but with a hand raised Pink quieted them.  _ I don’t mean we are weak, the Diamond Authority has weapons that can scour all life from a planet in hours, and our colonies can destroy one even more thoroughly if given enough time, but the truth of the matter is that for all that strength, losing a Diamond, like what happened to me, was enough to harm the empire for thousands of years. You all lived through Era 2, you all saw what the empire had to do to overcome the resource shortages. That only happened because of me, because I was shattered, but it should not have been that bad!  _ She had raised her voice, every gem in the room staring at her with rapt attention.  _ For thousands of years, the empire and every gem in it suffered because we were too strong, too resistant to anything that could even try to make us change, and instead of looking for solutions the other Diamonds simply sat back and accepted it! Yellow, Blue, White… all three of them combined and they never looked for a solution! Rose Quartz might have been a rebel, and her rebellion might have cost this court dearly, but at least she didn’t sit around and do nothing to respond to a crisis! I am going to prepare my court for the future, and if that means being less like the other Diamonds and more like Rose Quartz than that is what I will do! _

_ I refuse to pretend that the empire has no flaws the way the other Diamonds do, especially when it comes to the creation of new gems: we have hollowed out planet after planet across galaxies, always pushing outwards in our need for more gems to meet the needs of the expanding empire, but we cannot keep that up forever! The other Diamonds refuse to acknowledge that a change is needed, but I am not them! I was made with powers to heal both gems and organics, while Blue and Yellows powers work only on gems. That is a sign, a sign that I ignored for too long. I will take the best aspects of gems and the best aspects of organics and bring them together, to create something as strong as the empire that can adapt well enough to not spend thousands of years in a resource crisis without doing anything about it! _

As her last words hung in the air, the throne room was dead silent, with none of the assembled guards or aristocrats making a sound. Pinks Spinel, who had taken up a role more akin to an advisor than a jester, was nervously sitting in the corner, an expression on her face halfway between dread and joy as she watched Pink speak, joy for the way her friend finally stopped hiding the truth of her plans, dread for what could happen if the assembled gems took her statement the wrong way.

But her dread was misplaced. Pushing her way to the front from the middle of the crowd, a familiar looking Tourmaline fell to a knee in front of her Diamond. With tears in her eyes, she declared  _ I am sorry My Diamond. I am sorry for ever doubting you. _

With that, it was like a spell was broken, and the gems of the delegation all joined the Tourmaline on one knee. Not all were convinced, in fact many of them were convinced that this experiment would blow up on the court and lead to another rebellion, but to speak out against their Diamonds publicly stated goals, in her throne room? That was unthinkable, and so they kneeled, resolving to themselves that they would watch and see what their Diamond did.

However, one group of gems present had no doubts. The Rose Quartz line of gems was designed by Pink Diamond, and the members of her personal guard were all honored by the position, so when their Diamond finished her speech and the aristocrats began to kneel, Pinks excitement, the enthusiasm she felt as she stood and explained her goals, her problems with the current system, and most importantly her powers over organic life that they had been given by her, they felt that energy as well, breaking out in cheers and applause at their Diamonds words. As the aristocrats left the room, they carried with them both word of their Diamonds speech, and the news that her personal guard was as loyal as could be. While many in the spire were concerned by this, terrified of what it could mean for their future, just as many heard their Diamonds words, her condemnation of stagnation, and emphasized. After all, they had lived through the thousands of years of Era 2, and the frustration she felt was all too familiar for them. For these gems, the response to Pink's speech was simple:  _ It’s about time someone said it. _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright, that was a chapter! I wrote the entire ending sequence at once in a weird sort of fugue state, going with what felt right, and I think it's a good way to wrap up a good chunk of the issues at Pinks court and put the endgame for this fic in motion.
> 
> As always, any and all feedback, in the form of comments or kudos, is appreciated!


	41. Foundations 2

The aftermath of Pink Diamonds announcement left her court scrambling. For many of them, their entire worlds had been shifted upside down with the news, the revelation that their Diamond was outright denouncing, if in not as many words, the commands of her fellow Diamonds and the traditions of the empire in the name of her ideas was revolutionary, and for a society as long lived and stable as theirs, revolutionary ideas were rarely welcomed. However, as a series of commands came down gutting the caste system, declaring that any roles short of gems would accept any volunteers of any cut that were willing to work, cutting down the ability of overseers to punish their workers, and ending any official punishments for cross-type relations, up to and including fusion, the court broiled over into chaos. For a certain Pink Lace Agate, who had just had a decent rest cycle for the first time in more than a week, this chaos was not very welcome.

“My Diamond.” Sway said through gritted teeth. “With all due respect, if you are going to make massive changes to the way this court is governed and the laws I have to enforce, is it too much to ask that you give me a bit of warning before announcing them?” The Agate paced from side to side in the throne room. “I don’t mean to criticize, but…”

“No, go ahead, criticize all you want.” Spinel interrupted her from her perch on the edge of the throne. “She wants every gem to think for themselves and speak their mind, which means she gets to sit there and listen to every little argument instead of going ‘I’m a Diamond, do what I say’ every time someone disagrees with her.”

“Thank you Spinel.” Pink said, slumped in her throne with her head in her hands. “I really appreciate the support.”

“Awww, was that sarcasm? It was pretty good for a first try, but now’s not the time for jokes, there’s an Agate here waiting for answers.”

“Yes, I am still present, and as I was saying before I was rudely interrupted” Sway shot a glare at Spinel. “I have many, many concerns about what just happened, and if I am being honest I don’t think you put enough thought into what comes next. If you’re going to go around and demand changes, the least you could do is make sure I’m ready for them instead of being caught off guard by whatever idea pops into your head!”

“I already explained why I did it, and I stand by that decision!” Pink replied. “I am responsible for every gem on this colony, every gem that is punished harshly because I delayed my reforms is my fault, and I wasn’t going to wait any longer, not when the slow way got a crowd of angry aristocrats in my throne room complaining, something that it was supposed to prevent! The current method wasn’t working, so I made my choice.”

“Well great. That’s great, wonderful, amazing!” Sway shouted in exasperation. “And I’ll just sit around and do my job, constantly looking over my shoulder for my Diamonds’ next impulsive demand to come down, and then I can try to explain the new rules to aristocrats who think ‘oh, she’s commander of Pinks personal guard, she knows what’s going on’ and I have to do my best to come up with a load of nice sounding words that mean nothing without just smacking them out of my way and running!”

The throne room was silent for a moment as the trio of Pink gems looked at each other. Pink moved first, hanging her head and sighing. “I am sorry about that, I didn’t mean to just dump all of this on you… you’ve had to deal with a lot because of me, haven’t you?”

“Yes, you could say that.” Came the response.  _ Only a few thousand years as the failure who let her Diamond get shattered, no big deal.  _ “And before you start apologizing and going on and on about how sorry you are… I already know you think you were doing the right thing, there’s nothing I can do to change your mind, so can we just skip the self pity thing this time, have you promise to do better, and then not talk to each other outside of what’s necessary for appearances until the next time you cause problems for me?” She looks around, taking in the surprise on Pinks face. “What?”

“Wow, what brought this on? I thought you were the obedient little soldier, so when did you decide to stand up for yourself?” Spinel asked, genuinely interested despite the way her words rubbed Sway the wrong way.

“When I spent several hours not caring about you, staying with gems I can trust to not mess up my life at a whim.” Her words cut deep as she lets loose with everything that was keeping her from resting, every painful thought that buried its way into her mind. “I was made to serve you, and to keep you safe, but the longer I have to actually deal with you, as a person and not a distant figure giving me commands, or a vague memory of something greater… you’re not what I wanted you to be.”

“Well I’m sorry, but I had to-”

“Yes, I know, you’ve explained it all to me before, and…” She sighed, gathering her thoughts as she looked up at the Diamond she had once loved. “... and I’m tired. I’m tired of being one of the gems entrusted with the biggest secret in the empire, I’m tired of dealing with the feeling of disappointment every time my programming builds you up to be some amazing person and then reality comes crashing in… and most of all, I’m tired of hearing you talk on and on about how you are sorry for how your actions hurt me, and you’ll do better next time.”

“So what do you want?” Spinel asked, her words cutting through the Agates diatribe with surgical precision. Freezing in the middle of her pacing, Sway pondered the question, a question that she had never truly pondered before, and found an answer.

“I want to go away.” She said quietly, as if she couldn’t believe what she was saying. “I want to take every Rose Quartz under my command and leave, to go find a beach where they can all wrestle and play without worrying about smacking a gem wrong and cracking, and know that I never have to go back to this life.” There were tears in her eyes as she spoke. “How wrong is that, an Agate custom made for a Diamond wanting to abandon her duties and wrestle with Quartzes on a beach?”

“It’s not wrong at all.” Came the soft voice of Pink Diamond… no, she might still be wearing Pink Diamonds form, but her actions, the gentle touch of her hand on Sway’s shoulder, the caring expression… right now, she was a Rose Quartz in a Diamond’s body. “In fact, I think it’s a lovely dream. I don’t know when it will be possible, but I promise you, I will make sure you get what you want.”   
  
Sway looked up at her, feeling as if her eyes were opened by the revelation she had just had. Rose Quartz, because that was who was speaking to her through Pink Diamonds mouth, was giving her a look of kindness even after her harsh words and desire to leave. Their eyes met, and there was none of the normal feelings of awe and love every gem was told and programmed to feel for their Diamond. Wordlessly, the two looked at each other until, with a nod of understanding and an about face that would impress even the strictest drill sergeant, Sway turned and left, calling back “I’ll try to keep the spire under control, if one of the other Diamonds show up I’ll let you know” as she left.

\-----

In a small red barn on Earth, while the Pink Court adapted to its changes, Peridot was being her usual self.

“Alright you Clods! I can’t have you crowding my workspace, it was only due to my genius that made it possible to turn a bunch of human electronics into the sensors needed for this operation, and-”

“Peridot, why do I need to hold this pose?” Steven interrupted from the machine, his hands held together above his head as his feet were wide apart, looking incredibly uncomfortable as he did so.

“Because that is what I calculated would give me the clearest results from the scan! This is all basic science Steven, I know what I’m doing.”

“This doesn’t look like science at all!” Doctor Maheswaran exclaimed. “Why couldn’t we have done this at the hospital?”

“Because your human repair center does not have the equipment to analyse gems, which we need to figure out what is going on with Stevens gem!” Came the reply from Peridot. “Now Steven, this might tickle a little…”

A burst of light stroked his stomach, washing over his gem for a brief moment before he broke down laughing, collapsing onto the floor of the barn. Peridot and Doctor Maheswaran rushed forward to try and help, but by the time they did he was already starting to recover.

“Oooowwwwww… can we try a different test?”

Peridot wilted under the doctors glare, muttering “well if you’re fine with a 1.7% reduction in efficiency, we can get a chair.”

“Yes, let’s do that.” Came the reply as Steven slowly stood himself back up, and as soon as Peridot provided a chair they began again.

\-----

Fire Opal 6C3 was a very happy gem. She was watching the old order she so hated collapse around her, the petty squabbles of the Pink Court brought to an end by a tidal wave of reforms that swept away the old guards idiotic long term power games. Many gems were celebrating, mostly the ones that were only playing the game because they had to, or were currently losing it, or were actually genuinely moved by their Diamonds speech, but despite the broad support, many of the gems who were losing out to the new decrees that came down by the day were less than pleased. What made them even less pleased was the fact that they didn’t exactly have the numbers to do anything more than stand around and talk about how dangerous all these changes were.

This was all good, and she enjoyed it immensely, but despite all the good news, she could not help but feel a bit strange as she walked into the work space she shared with Iolite, the small purple gem already working on analysing a barrage of reports from across the colony, trying to identify any problem areas before they got bad. Looking at the small purple gem, she felt the same feelings that had been popping up ever since she had heard of the Ruby and Sapphire permafusion on earth. Shaking her head to clear those thoughts away, she sat down in her station and began to work.

The two sat in silence for a while until Iolite wheeled around, fixing her with a gaze. “You know, our Diamond doesn’t really like cut and facet numbers, she prefers names.”

6C3 blinked at the surprising topic. “Alright…?”   
  


“And there are seven Iolites in this colony. While our Diamond has grown used to just calling me Iolite, I feel that referring to one member of a cut by the name of the cut is insulting to all other members of the cut, and I have been attempting to determine a way to handle this.”

“Well… why can’t you all be Iolite?” Came the response. “I mean… don’t humans have two or three names? Why not have one name be Iolite and have different second or third names?”

Iolite looked over at her, pondering the suggestion for a moment before nodding. “That could work. While we’re on the topic, have you considered an actual name?”

“Well… not really, this is the first I’ve heard of our Diamond demanding them.”

“Oh, she’s not demanding anything, I simply deduced from the way she pauses whenever she uses an identification number as well as a few other observations, and upon some introspection I decided it was a good idea. If you don’t agree, that’s alright.”

6C3 paused for a moment, trying to think.  _ What would I name myself, out of all the words in existence…  _ “I don’t really know what I’d call myself if I’m being honest.”

“Well… perhaps something to do with fire?”

6C3 shook her head, shooting that idea down instantly. “No, that just doesn’t feel right.”

“Well… you know, your little impurities in your gem are very striking, maybe something like… Aurora?”

_ She noticed the impurities… and she likes them? They nearly got me shattered when I emerged, and she likes them!? And Aurora… isn’t that the bright lights in polar regions? They are beautiful… is she calling me beautiful? Is-  _

Her thoughts were cut off by the flashing of a Diamond communicator, and she turned to look at Iolite with confusion.

“Pink is busy, and doesn’t have a Pearl, so me and Spinel take turns watching it.” Is all the explanation she gives before she answers the call. 

The form of Yellow Diamond fills the air as the communicator screen forms. “You’re not Pink.”

“Your lustrousness is correct, I am Iolite Facet-”

“Never mind that, inform Pink that I must speak to her in private. My ship is already being prepared for launch, I expect her to be ready by the time I arrive.” With that, the call ended, leaving the two gems standing awkwardly in the room. For Aurora, who found she was beginning to like her new name, the news of another Diamonds pending arrival had ruined her good mood, and as she thought of how disheveled the court was in the middle of the reforms…

“We need to tell our Diamond now!” They both said at once, leaping to their feet and running through the halls, one moving up the spire, the other down.

At the time, Pink Diamond was on level six, resolving a dispute between a pair of gems who were bickering over her exact meaning in the decrees. Aurora arrived in a panic, nearly shoving the two other Gems out of the way as she announced “My Diamond, Yellow Diamond is on her way, she claims that she must speak with you in private!”

The room went deathly quiet, and for the briefest moment a flicker of fear showed up on Pinks face before being washed away by determination. “Then we’ll prepare for her arrival. Spread the word, everyone is to be on their best behavior, anyone who can’t is to be kept out of the spire until she’s gone. When she arrives, escort her to my throne room immediately!”

As her Diamond barked commands, the Fire Opal who had just found her name found herself worried. The threat of the other Diamonds learning of Pinks actions was no longer hypothetical, even if all the troublemakers were shooed away before Yellow arrived, keeping Pinks actions a secret…

_ Well, now we see if Our Diamond has a good plan. _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, a day late on this one, and I have an excuse! Yesterday was pretty much the perfect storm, I had two phone interviews in my job hunt and then helped my mother socialize her new kitten, so by the time all that was done I was not really in the mood for writing and editting.
> 
> With that said, because this chapter and the one before it didn't get as far as I thought, I have an announcement: the hiatus will begin after I post a chapter on the third of July, which should be the last chapter before the timeskip as well. I have a document with a mess of plotlines that I need to wrap up in two chapters, but I feel like I missed some, so if there's something you remember from an early chapter that hasn't been mentioned since, let me know and I'll see if I can tie up that loose end.
> 
> Beyond that, I hope you all enjoy this chapter, your comments and kudos sustain my drive to update on a regular basis.


	42. Foundations 3

“My Diamond? Yellow Diamond has arrived.” The Rose Quartz gem says as the door opens, the imposing form of Yellow Diamond standing just outside, waiting to be announced as protocol dictated. Pink smiled, stating “I see. Let her in and leave us, this is a discussion between Diamonds, do not allow any to interfere unless it is a true emergency.” with a degree of outward calm. On the inside however, she was much less happy.

_ Oh this is bad, this is very very bad, why is she here, what am I going to tell her if she asks questions? Could she have learned about my reforms, or worse my speech? Is this going to turn into a fight? Can I take Yellow on in a fight? How many gems did she bring with her, what sort of weapons do those ships even carry? It’s been thousands of years since I even stepped foot in one. what- _

“Pink.” Yellows’ voice interrupts her panicked thoughts. “It’s been a while, I am glad to see your colony is progressing nicely, despite the setbacks and the resources given over to your tests.”

Pink swallowed, forcing her nervousness down as she answered “Well, I have plenty of devoted gems in my court, and this time I am much more active in the management of this colony than I was back on Earth.”  _ And not in ways you’d be very happy to hear about…  _ “So, what did you need to talk about Yellow?”

The larger Diamond sighed as she took a seat near Pinks’ throne, simply sitting on the throneroom floor as Pink looked on in shock.  _ I’ve never looked down on Yellow like this before…  _ she thought as she realized that with the thrones elevation her head was above that of the other Diamond.

“Oh, this and that, normal issues involving running an empire, minor things like that.” Yellow leaned back as she spoke. “To tell you the truth, I mainly stopped by as an excuse to get off Homeworld, Blue has been… difficult to deal with. She’s not a weepy mess who refuses to do any work to help run the empire, but honestly the way she’s been acting… she’s always been stubborn, but it feels like she’s trying to roll back the clock to Era 1 now that you’re back, and we keep getting into arguments about things like court protocol and the like. It’s all minor issues, we haven’t broken the unity of the Diamond Authority to the rest of Homeworld, but it’s exhausting to deal with.”

Pink stared blankly for a moment as Yellow laughed, a deep, full bellied sound that had little humor and a lot of relief in it. “Oh it feels good to say it out loud, if I tried to tell Blue that she would get all upset, she’s obsessed with taking us back to the past and telling her things have changed sets her off, and White… well, I don’t talk to White about anything nowadays, she never has time to see me! It’s like she’s off in her own little world in that headship of hers.” Yellow continued to ramble, frustration bleeding through as she vented.

“Well that’s… not a very good sign.” Pink replied, trying to not let it show just how happy she was that White wasn’t even talking to other Diamonds. “Do you think something is wrong with White?”

Yellows’ head snapped around at those words, and for a moment Pink was convinced she’d said something wrong, only for Yellow to reply “Well, if there is something wrong with her, it’s been wrong ever since we heard about your shattering. She hasn’t come out of her ship, hasn’t been willing to give us audiences unless it’s necessary… it’s been difficult to run the empire without her.”

Pink nodded at that. “Well, if she’s not going to put in the work to help run the empire… why does she get to tell the rest of us how to run it?”  _ That’s a dangerous question, but I think Yellow might be sympathetic… _

For a moment there was silence as the two Diamonds stared at each other, and Pink worried that something had gone horribly wrong before the faintest smile began to form on Yellows’ face. “Well, that is a good question. The truth is, White rules Homeworld because she is the most powerful Diamond, the only gem older than me and Blue. Removing her… well, it wouldn’t do much, but it would change the entire empire if they saw a Diamond removed from power. So, we put up with her and Blue, put on a show of unity for the rest of the empire, and do our best to fix their messes behind the scenes.”

“We?” Pink asked, surprised.

“Well, we Diamonds have to stick together after all.” Yellow said, causing a feeling of revulsion to form in Pinks stomach.

“Stick together? So we can keep making the same mistakes over and over again?” She asked, the words slipping from her mouth before she could stop them. Yellow said nothing, only raising an eyebrow at her while gesturing  _ go on  _ with her hand. With a sigh, Pink continued “Blue is obsessed with bringing back Era one, which ended with me shattered and the empire not capable of recovering from that, White is not involved with running the empire at all, and you are making minor fixes that don’t actually change the massive gaping holes in the system. Me being shattered should not have damaged the empire for thousands of years, and even more than that  _ it shouldn’t have happened in the first place!”  _

Yellow simply stared at her before nodding. “You’re right.” At Pinks’ surprised response, she continued “And that is the second reason I came here today. The empire needs gems who are willing to put in the hard work of running it, who can see the problems with the system and fix them before they get bad. Blue is too attached to the past, White is too aloof to notice the modern issues with the empire… I think that between us, we can make a bit of progress, especially with your more… ambitious, proposals.”

“What… what do you mean?” Pink asked, the rising hope that had filled her dropping down at that last sentence.

“Well, keeping planets around, research into organic life… if even one of those works, you’re going to make some big changes to all gemkind, and I want to make sure that those changes are utilized for the full benefit of the empire.” Yellow replied, giving her a cautious look. “If you have any other experiments that you have going on that could change the empire, you should let me know.”

_ My reaction gave it away, it must have.  _ Pink thought with panic in her mind.  _ This is bad, but it could be good… how much can I tell her…  _ “Well… my court has a few shortages of many different types of gems, so I have been experimenting with things like a Fire Opal helping an Iolites work, or Quartzes assisting with construction work, things like that. It’s been a success so far, my court has gained a lot of efficiency from cross training gems to perform other tasks.”

The other Diamond didn’t seem all that surprised by that response, nodding slowly. “A logical response to labor shortages… I would like to review the results of that experiment, efficiency gains would be useful going forward, even with the resource shortage being reduced by your return…” She trailed off thoughtful as she pondered the implications.

“Well, I have a few studies…” Pink responded, pulling up the documents on her control screen as she felt relief run through her.  _ Just need to keep her happy with my results so far…  _ she thought as she began to present the results to the other Diamond, the fear of Yellow shutting her down slowly retreating to the back of the mind, even if it wasn’t possible to get rid of it entirely.

\-----

As Yellow Diamonds’ ship flew away from Pink Diamonds’ colony, the throneroom of Pinks’ court was full of a small council of the few gems that knew the entire truth behind their Diamonds actions. Pink herself was slumped against her throne as the others arrived, with her head in her hands as the door closed.

“So…” Spinel began, looking up at the throne as she began to talk. “What’s the word boss, are we in trouble?”

Pink sighed, a mixture of relief and anger in her voice as she replied. “Well, we are not in trouble… but Yellow is still frustrating.” She leaned forward, lines on her face as she explained. “She’s still the same person she used to be, even if she’s willing to talk bad about Blue and White and criticize their way of running the empire, so I don’t think she’ll be all that happy if she learns the entire truth. But as long as I can convince her the experiments are working, I think we’ll be fine for now.”

The assembled gems digested that, nodding slowly as Pink watched the giant yellow arm disappear from the skyline.  _ Well, that could have gone a lot better… but it also could have gone a lot worse. At least now I can sort of count on Yellow to not interfere as long as I don’t push too hard too fast…  _ she shook her head, pushing those thoughts from her mind as she stood up.  _ No time to think of all that now, I have a job to do, and now that I have Yellows’ sort of approval, it’s time to really get to work.  _ “If there’s nothing else, I do have to get to work handling petitioners, there are quite a lot of them today, I wonder why…” she said dryly, imagining just how large the crowd outside must have gotten now that the aristocrats knew Yellow was gone. 

_ How did that one song go? “Ain’t no rest for the wicked until we close our eyes for good.” Boy is that true. _

“Alright everyone, we’ve got a lot of work to do!” She said, shaking off her thoughts as she strode for the door, confidence filling her movements as she pushed her doubts to the side.

\-----

The days and weeks afterwards, as her court began to react to and adapt to the new rules they were living under, were a blur. One crisis after another, argument after argument to resolve… crisis management was the only thing Pink Diamond did in those long, sleepless days, but as weeks became months, she watched as her court began to shift, slowly but surely as attitudes that had been entrenched for thousands of years faded away. Old bigotries and beliefs did not vanish overnight, gems are much like humans in that regard, but they no longer had any official impact on law and policy in the Pink Court. Of course, not everyone was happy about this, but the announcement that Yellow Diamond had been informed of and approved of the new experiments took the wind from the sails of those who wished to fight back or otherwise undo the reforms, since as far as they knew, half the Diamond Authority approved of these changes.

Pink hated lying like that, and knew if the lie was ever uncovered her court would be a bit of a mess, and if Yellow found out… well, it was best to not spend too much time worrying about such things, there was a lot of work to be done. Fortunately for Pink, the gems working for her were very good at what they did.

\-----

Spinel spent those days wandering the spire and colony, making friends and listening in on the words and thoughts of the court with her admittedly incredibly powerful abilities. The information she brought back was often delivered bluntly and without reverence for Pinks station, an example that the rest of the gems in her court noticed and began slowly mimicking, unnecessary flattery falling away as the days went by, leaving Pink overjoyed as she found the hated trappings of being a Diamond falling away. One of those days, Spinel was giving a sort of public report in front of the court, smiling as she reported the mood of various departments in the spire, when Pink had a thought strike her.

_ Spinels are viewed as jesters or fools, and there’s the human expression of someone being worth their weight in gold that definitely applies to her…  _ She let out a small giggle at the mental image of Spinel shifted into the form of a Pyrite, remembering that ancient fight she had with Blue. Spinel paused at that, waiting to see why her Diamond had laughed as the entire court focused their gaze on the throne. Pushing the thought aside, she waved for Spinel to continue. After the court cleared out, the smaller pink gem slid up to the throne and asked “so what was that laughing about?”

“Well, you are the court jester, or fool, and you’ve been doing so many amazing things for me in the last few months, and I was thinking that humans associate value with gold, so that makes you Fools Gold.” Pink said, causing Spinel to place her head in her hands.

“Pink, please tell me that you were better at flirting back on Earth, because if not I need to examine the human and the Pearl that fell in love with you.”

“WHAT! No, that wasn’t flirting, that was…” Pink trailed off as she watched Spinel fall on the ground laughing. “Oh, ha ha ha, very funny.”

“It is!”

“Well that’s what I get for trying to compliment you, I’ll make sure to never do it again.” Pink said playfully.

“Nah, you’ll do it again, I’m too amazing for you to not compliment from time to time just out of respect for my skills.” Spinel told her as the screen in front of Pinks’ throne began to blink with an alert. Standing up, the jester gem she walked towards the door. “But that’s for another time, right now I have work to do, and so do you.”

“Yes yes, alright. Get going so I can get some work done in peace.” Pink responded driely, her tone making it clear how little she wanted to address whatever new problem had popped up this time even as she reached over to press the button to answer the call.  _ No rest for the wicked indeed. _

\-----

For the newly christened Aurora, who was still getting used to not being Fire Opal 6C3, those days were both amazing and painful. Amazing in that she watched the entire self-serving eternal game of politics in the Pink Court, which had started to reassert itself within hours of the court reassembling, collapse as the reforms broke the stasis that it relied on, and the constant eye of their Diamond prevented a new stasis from emerging. However, there was a lot of work to be done, and as one of the gems Pink Diamond trusted, she found herself adding a lot of “extra” work to her regular duties.

Which is why she found herself in a human structure known as a “hospital” and conversing with a Peridot and a human “Doctor”, which as far as she could tell was their equivalent of technicians? It was all very confusing, and normally Iolite would be handling this work, but the short purple gem had been busy and asked Aurora to handle the task… and the weird feeling in her gem that happened whenever Iolite talked to her had overridden her common sense and caused her to agree, leaving her sitting awkwardly next to the hybrid “Steven” as the two people who actually knew what they were talking about debated about…

“What do you mean it’s not possible, you saw him do it!”

“That doesn’t mean violating Conservation of Mass is the only explanation! There has to be an answer that doesn’t violate fundamental laws of physics.”

“Oh, like the same fundamental laws that have you humans convinced that a faster than light ship can also serve as a time machine?”

“I am not getting into an argument about physics, I am not a physicist, if you want to debate with one of them I would be more than happy to ship you off to Harvard for a few weeks.”

“REALLY?!”

… stuff. They were arguing about stuff, and now the Peridot was hugging the human, who clearly did not intend for that reaction. Sitting back, Aurora reached over to Steven in an attempt to gain his attention. Resting her hand on his shoulder, she asked “do you know how long this will take?”

Steven flinched as he turned and saw her orange hand, focusing on her face as he pushed the reaction down in a manner very similar to his mothers.  _ Well, I am curious about what caused that reaction, but it is fascinating to see this “family resemblance” phenomenon in person.  _ “My apologies” Aurora stated “I did not mean to startle you.”   
  


“No, it’s fine, you didn’t do anything wrong I just…” Steven looked over at the pair of “experts” who were currently debating something involving energy to mass conversion before lowering his voice and whispering “I’ve just had a bad experience with a Jasper, and when you grabbed me and I saw your arm for a moment I thought you were her.”

Aurora looked down at her arm. While the tone of orange was within the standard for a Jasper, it was much thinner than the limbs on those gems tended to be, although given the skinny one she had seen as part of the group detached to “guard” Beach City, she supposed it was possible for one of them to be the size of her. “I see. My apologies for bringing up a bad memory.”

“It’s fine, really.” Steven said before shaking his head. “Well, no it’s not fine, she tried to kill me and Amethyst, and she was doing that all because she was convinced I was Mom and blamed me for Pink Diamond shattering, and she went and got corrupted less than a year before you guys came by and told us the truth, so now she’s stuck in a bubble and will never knew what actually happened unless we can cure corruption… I’m rambling, sorry, my therapist tells me I need to stop keeping my feelings bottled up so I sometimes just start talking and don’t stop.”

Aurora nods at that. “Well, that is just one more reason to focus on curing corruption, even if it is taking a long time. I read the reports on your attempts to cure the Nephrite, your success was admirable.”  _ Using the tears of a Diamond… the same fluids used to help make new gems. It had a partial success, as if there were other parts missing… how did no one realize this before?  _ She thought in shock, staring at the bland tile of the room as her mind raced.  _ It must have been lost under the mountain of other problems… _

“Hey, you ok?” Steven asked, bringing her back to the present. Aurora blinked as she realized the entire room was looking at her, the Peridot and Doctor both pausing their debate to look at her.

“I… I believe I might have a theory for a cure for corruption.” She said hesitantly, watching as both Steven and Peridot stared at her, while the Doctor looked confused for a moment before realization hit. “It’s only a theory, we should not end this meeting and your important discussion for it.”

Doctor Maheswaran snorts a little at that. “Well that’s one way to describe what we were talking about. We need to do a bit of setup to prepare for a more exhaustive look at shapeshifting during the next visit here anyway, so I think this is a good time for us to end for today. You three go on, I still have the rest of my shift today.” She said, shooing the pair of gems and Steven out of the office and into the waiting area, where the adult human male known as “Greg” was waiting for them. As soon as the door closed, Steven and Peridot looked at Aurora, barely paying attention to Greg.

“So… did something happen?” The only pure human in the room asked.

“I believe it would be best if I explained this as we moved towards the conveyance vehicle.” Aurora responded.

\-----

“... and that’s why I believe that the mixture of fluids from all four Diamonds is likely to produce positive results in the curing of corruption.” Aurora finished, leaving the Dondai silent except for the sounds of the road and engine as they drove towards Beach City.

“But wait, wouldn’t Mom have tried that already? That’s the stuff in injectors, and both Kindergartens are loaded with those.” Steven pointed out from the seat that, for some arcane reason, was named after a type of chemical-based projectile weaponry.

“Hmmm, well in theory, however it is commonly understood among technicians that injector fluid goes bad after a couple centuries, perhaps by the time she and the other survivors were able to reach the kindergarten it had gone bad?” Peridot pointed out. “It could explain why she hasn’t tried it again, she might not know about the degradation and think that she already tried using perfectly good Diamond fluids.”

“Alright, I’m going to be honest I’m kind of getting grossed out by all the talk of fluids.” Greg said from the driver's seat.”

“Sorry Dad.” Steven replied. “But it’s a good point, and if they’re right… then we could cure everyone.” His voice was full of wonder as visions of the sea of bubbles in the burning room filled it, imagining what it will be like when that room is finally,  _ finally,  _ empty for good. “We have to try.”

“Agreed.” Aurora said. “I will inform Pink Diamond upon my return of this theory, she is likely to at least provide us the resources to test the theory.”

  
Steven nodded, barely paying attention anymore as he looked out over the rolling hills of Delmarva, a smile on his face.  _ They’re finally going to be free. After thousands of years, all that they went through while corrupted… they’ll all be free. _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And now you see why I said I needed one more update before I felt comfortable starting the hiatus.
> 
> Can you imagine how annoying it would be if I just wrote that ending part then said "Alright, see you in a month!"? Although cliffhangers do work if used sparingly... nah, I'm not going to be that cruel.
> 
> Anyways, comments and kudos are always appreciated, so give all that you are willing to give.


	43. Foundations 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The final Chapter of Part One.

The end of corruption happened on a normal, sunny day. The Crystal Gems sat in the Strawberry Fields, a small plastic tub of water setup around a hundred paces from the warp pad as they waited. In a flash of light three new arrivals joined them: Iolite, Aurora, and Pink Diamond. The two groups met, Pink holding out four vials, each the color of one of the Diamonds, while Steven held in his hands a small purple bubble, with a single, almost shard-like gem inside. “Alright, we’re ready.” He said, looking up at his Mom, conflicted emotions running through him like wildfire.

She looked down at him with a soft smile. “That’s the one? The Jasper who blamed you for what happened to me?”

Steven nodded. “She spent thousands of years angry because of a lie, if this works then… then maybe she can start healing.”

That was enough for her, and she nodded before pulling out the containers, putting drop after drop into the tub until the water was a mix of vibrant colors. Steven stepped forward to put the bubble in, and Pink turned to say “Everyone else should step back, if this doesn’t work I can handle it myself, and if it does… then I need to handle this myself.” At her words, everyone else stepped back, even Steven, and watched as the bubble floated on the surface of the tub for just a moment before popping and sinking to the bottom. After a moment, in a flash of light the towering form of Jasper burst from the water, shattering the cheap plastic of the tub as her form took shape, nearly identical to her pre-corruption self except with a pair of horns and some minor discoloration.

She looked around, confusion and anger on her face as the memories of her last moments before being corrupted struck her, and whirling around she paused at the sight of Pink Diamond standing above her. The shock seemed to physically knock her back, leaving her on her butt as she stared, frozen at the form of the Diamond she had given everything to serve and avenge. “My Diamond… I thought, I saw you… you’re not shattered?”

“No, I never was.” Pink replied, tears dripping down her face as thousands of years of regret washed over her.  _ She’s been hurt because of me.  _

“My Diamond…?”   
  


“I owe you so much more than an apology for what happened to you, but for now it’s what I can give you.” Looking at the confused Quartz, she shook her head. “Look at me, you probably think I’m talking nonsense right now. You’d think after all this time I’d get better at explaining this.” Pink Diamond stepped back and a brilliant display of light left Rose Quartz standing in the field.

No one spoke as Jasper looked at her with shock and disbelief, frozen in place by what she had just seen, until her mouth began to twitch. “Rose Quartz… was Pink Diamond.” She muttered numbly.

Slumping to the ground, her frame shook with rage for a brief moment before her head shot up, looking Rose in the eye and demanding “So what does that mean? What was the point of all of that? Was I made to fight a war that wasn’t even real!?”

“The war was real, but it wasn’t necessary. It happened because I couldn’t think of any other way to change the other Diamonds minds about Earth, so I… might have gone too far.” Rose replied softly, watching as the powerful Quartz shook like a vulnerable child, her worldview shattered by the revelation.

“You did.” Jasper replied, bringing herself to her feet. “You did all of that, created me, started a war… to win an argument about this pathetic clump of dirt and rock.” She said as she glared at Rose, their two forms near evenly sized. Taking a step forward, Jasper continued to rant. “What do you all see in this planet? I was made here and I’ve hated it since the moment I came out of the ground, and you all act like it’s worth throwing away everything for! It even ensnared a Diamond!”

Each step brought her closer to Rose, the gem who was at once the hated enemy and the object of her supreme devotion. Closing the distance, she stood there, waiting for a reply, for any sort of answer to her rage and pain. Rose sighed, regret on her features as she replied “I know it sounds crazy, and I know you might never agree with me, but I do think the Earth is worth protecting. I’m sorry I hurt so many people to do it, but if I had to do it again I wouldn’t change my goals, only my methods.”

Jasper listened as she spoke, rage growing within her with every sentence, and when Rose made her declaration she let out a scream of anger and threw a punch, the strike wild and uncontrolled, with none of the millenia of skill behind it. It was a strike of pure emotion, and it was no surprise to anyone, even Jasper, when Rose caught it in the palm of her hand. The two stared at each other for a moment, tears forming in Jaspers and, to the Perfect Quartzs’ surprise, Roses’ eyes. For a moment they were locked in the embrace, powerful forms struggling against each other before Jasper yielded, stepping back with a look of defeat and pain on her face.

“I imagined what it would be like to see you again… but I never could have imagined this.” She said, turning her back to Rose and stomping off. “Fighting you wouldn’t even be fun.”

For Amethyst, who had seen how Jasper enjoyed combat, those words and the larger gems stance struck a chord deep inside her. Stepping forward, she put a hand on Stevens’ chest as if to tell him “I got this” before moving to intercept Jasper as she trudged away. Stepping up beside the taller gem, she looked up and said “Hey, come on, you don’t really want to be alone right now, do you?”

Jasper blinked in surprise, looking down at Amethyst as if seeing her for the first time. “Why are you being nice to me?” She whispered, her voice even hoarser than normal.

“Because I know what you’re feeling right now.” Came the response, causing Rose to flinch as she heard it. “We didn’t know the truth either.”

Jasper stared at her for a moment, as if searching for any sign of falsehood, before sighing and nodding. “Sure, stay if you want, but I’m not going to listen to her anymore.” She said, sitting down on the ground and refusing to move.

Rose felt a wave of guilt run through her at the sight, but Amethysts’ confident wave convinced her to not step forward. Holding up the vials of Diamond juice, she handed them over to Steven and said “I better head back and get the rest of the fluids, we’ll need a lot of them to cure everyone. I’ll meet you all at the fountain as soon as I get everything we need.” She said, turning and heading back towards the warp pad, more disturbed by how easy it was getting to be hated for her actions than anything else.  _ I hate that I’m getting used to this. I shouldn’t be, but I have done it so much that it just doesn’t hit as hard as it used to. _

\-----

When Pink returned with the fluids, they gathered the gems from the burning room and took them all to the fountain, a constant stream of gems into the colorful waters that essence of all four Diamonds mixed together in. Placing bubble after bubble inside, the pool was soon filled with cheers and happiness, as gems whose last memories had been of the pain and confusion of being corrupted realized that they were back to almost normal, spontaneous celebrations breaking out that crossed the dividing lines between Homeworld Loyalist and Crystal Gems.

Steven was having the time of his life meeting all these new gems. Nephrite had gently informed him that her name wasn’t “Centipeedle”, but she had been so happy to be uncorrupted now, and the sight of her reunited with her crew after thousands of years was just so adorable and sweet and-

“Steven!” Bismuths’ voice cut through the din. “I need to use the pool, I found Biggs!” She said happily, holding a pink bubble with a very familiar orange mottled gem inside. He felt a flash of regret at that, remembering the day she had been forced by Jasper to attack him and Amethyst on the beach…

“Hey, you doing alright little guy?” Bismuth asked, a look of concern on her face.

“Yeah, just… remembering.”

A look of comprehension crossed Bismuths’ features. “Ah, this isn’t one of… one of your moms, is it? Was she… did she hurt you?”

Steven could tell that Bismuth was conflicted, her reunion with an old friend ruined by his feelings because he just had to bring it up to make her sad and-  _ No, it’s fine, making someone else sad by being honest about my feelings is not the end of the world.  _ He thought to himself, hoping that if he repeated it enough he would start to believe it, the fake it till you make it strategy his therapist had taught. Looking up at Bismuth, he shook his head. “She didn’t hurt me, the Jasper that was trying to use her as a weapon did, but not her. Now let’s get her out of there and healed up, she’s missed a lot in the last few thousand years.” He said as he picked up the bubble, gently lowering it into the fountain water.

Beside him, Bismuth tensed as the bubble popped and the gem disappeared below the surface, but only a moment later a glow shone through the liquid and a large gem leapt to her feet, looking around in confusion for a brief moment before Bismuth tackled her, yelling with joy. Stepping back, Steven looked around the pool, watching as gems large and small were swept up in the atmosphere, an impromptu pool party breaking out through the fountain, with Pearl far too happy to care about the roughhousing.

Ruby and Sapphire were still unfused before the wedding, taking time to live as their own gems while Steven kept trying to find time to plan it. He had tried to convince them to design their own wedding, but neither had budged, saying they would not replace their wedding planner and that he could take all the time he needed. Now that the Crystal Gems who weren’t shattered were popping out of the pool like spring daisies, he realized he might need more chairs for the beachfront wedding he was planning. As he thought about that, he watched them chat with old friends, a small crowd surrounding them as they told stories that, from the way flames kept bursting from Rubys’ feet, were incredibly exciting.

On the other side of the pool, his moms group mostly kept to themselves, mom as Pink Diamond assuring Crystal Gems that she had no intention of starting the war again, and keeping the Homeworld Gems from causing any trouble, even though it seemed none of them were in the mood for that. The Pink Agate that commanded her personal guard, Sway, was in the pool, carrying another Pink Lace Agate out of the water over her head before delivering her to a crowd of happy Quartzes, who promptly swarmed their returned Agate and dunked her under the water, rank forgotten as they celebrated with playful violence. Of course, Sway was unable to get away from the crowd before one nabbed her, sending her faceplanting into the pool and causing a cry of alarm to come from the Rose Quartzes along the edge. For a moment, Steven was worried things would escalate, but it seems even the guards had been infected with the celebratory atmosphere, jumping into the water to fight over their Agate with the other Quartzes, who soon rallied against them in a play battle that thankfully seemed confined to that part of the pool for now.

Iolite stood at the side of the pool, conversing quietly with a cluster of other Iolites, the small inquisitive gems chatting earnestly about something or another as Aurora looked at the cluster with a strange look. It was almost like that look Connie had gotten when he joked about using the cloud room to make duplicates of himself for more hugs.  _ But why would Aurora be making that look…?  _ He pondered for a moment before a pink blur caught his attention.

Spinel was having the time of her life, bouncing around the pool and chatting with everyone, welcoming them all back as she did. She was moving around with ease and grace, finding gems that were all alone for any reason and talking to them, taking only a few moments before finding a group or other loner and placing them together, making sure no one was left out. If he had to guess, Steven would say at least a third of the party atmosphere came from Spinel working her magic, making others make friends and cementing herself as “the weird Spinel who introduced me to my new friends” for dozens of gems. If she wasn’t on their side, he might have been worried about that, but before he could consider it more she came to a stop… right in front of Pearl.

Pink also noticed when Spinel and Pearl met, and she felt a shiver run down her spine. Spinel had never seemed to hold Pinks decisions against Pearl, but even still the sight of them meeting concerned her. As she watched though, the two seemed to simply be talking conversationally, Spinel using her shapeshifting to place three or more bubbles in the fountain at a time, dramatically increasing the process as she talked with Pearl, who for her part was so overwhelmed with happiness that she seemed to barely be paying attention to the other gem. After a few moments, Spinel laughed and patted Pearl on the back, sending the thin gem sprawling into the water before grabbing her and apologizing, still laughing the entire time.

Sitting back, Pink looked over the fountain and took in the sights, watching as the corruption that had tormented so many gems for so long was washed away. It wasn’t enough to remove the regret, Amethyst slipping in part way through saying that Jasper was sitting in a cave and smacked her to get her to leave was only the second most blatant reminder of her mistakes, the massive statue of Rose Quartz crying in the center of the fountain being number one. But despite the regret, looking around at the crowd of celebrating gems put a smile on her face, and Pink could honestly say for the first time since she had woken up all those months ago confused and alone in a strange station that her life was good.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And that is that. 43 updates, more than 130,000 words, and a lot of learning about my own strengths and weaknesses as a writer later, I have finally reached the end of the first part of this series. 
> 
> The hiatus will last four weeks, giving me plenty of time to mentally recharge, plot out the post-timeskip story, and maybe write an interlude about Steven going to school or something slice-of-life like that. However, that brings me to an announcement I want to make: once I return from the hiatus, I will update once every two weeks instead of once every week.
> 
> My reasons for this are simple: I have way to many story ideas in my head, and the last time I tried to keep this story on a weekly updating schedule while writing a second one I burned out, so because I have a still in progress fic that left off just as things were getting good and a google drive with 4 different first chapters for various other ideas, I decided that I would reduce the update schedule here to give myself the free time to write other things without burning out.
> 
> Sometime in the next month or so I might post a snippet collection of those first chapters, see what people think of the ideas, and if I do I'll link it in the author notes of the next update after the hiatus.
> 
> Thank you to everyone who has followed me so far, whether you've been here from the very beginning or just stumbled across my silly little story a while ago, you are all great and I am glad you enjoyed reading what I write for you. See you all again after the break.

**Author's Note:**

> Now with a translation into Spanish by Reactive Cuarz: https://www.fanfiction.net/s/13406711/1/Awakening-Traducci%C3%B3n-Oficial
> 
> And now with a TVTropes page! https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Fanfic/AwakeningStevenUniverse


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